No More Secrets
by Guarding My Castle
Summary: A completion of "What Happens in Vegas Does not Stay in Vegas" and "Aftermath Of Secrets". Starts serous. Then we will just have to see where it finishes
1. 3 Weeks before the wedding

**I will start by apologizing to my followers. I wish I could stop this stuff from coming out of my head but it won't**  
**This MIGHT end up as another useless extension to My Vegas and Secrets stories. I just don't know yet.**  
**Keeping in tune with Vegas. I plan to be more fun than the last two. I don't like the scary woods either**

**AS always. Marlow is the boss. He owns and operates "CASTLE" and all its characters. They belong to him.  
but**

* * *

**I do get to read and write about them.  
**

**I get nothing but a great group of readers**

**Thank You**

* * *

Three weeks before the wedding

* * *

Monday morning finds Rick and Kate Castle back home in their loft. The short lived stay at the warehouse "A La Grande" is over and they are so glad to return home and relax. It was a fun week for her and her husband. Eating microwave frozen dinners on their wooden door table while sitting on their metal folding chairs. Getting dressed using the milk crates with the plywood top as a dresser. And best of all sleeping on their air inflated mattress on the hard floor.

Kate is visibly much more relaxed since her old nemesis is out of the picture finally. He is gone. Not because of her investigations or other action on her part. He has done himself in. He created the self destruction himself. Of course Rick's little motion picture didn't hurt in getting this accomplished.

As soon as she gets out of bed her brain starts running a mile a minute. She has to get with Lanie to start the planning of her formal wedding now less than three weeks away. The very first thing they have to do is get the invitations made and in the mail. Then they have to get the caterer and the flowers and the DJ for the reception. Rick told her the name of a wedding planner in the Hamptons that Kate can call to handle all the arrangements. Later today she will get with Lanie, call the planner and make arrangements and also order the invitations.

After she takes her shower and dresses she is ready to head out the door. She finds her husband in his study. Feet propped up on his desk with his computer in his lap. His fingers are tapping away on the keyboard. He must have had a great idea he needs to get written before he forgets where he was heading with Nikki and Jamison

Kate stands quietly in the doorway looking in his direction. This really is the man she wanted no part of when they first met four years ago. He irritated her. He bothered her at her work. He made childish remarks. But in the end he helped her in ways no one else ever tried to do. He is that person she dreamed about. She mentioned once in a conversation with Castle that she wished she had "A man that would be there for me and I could be there for him" not realizing that Castle was wanting desperately to be that man. Now just standing here looking at him gives her that warm feeling inside. That feeling that she really enjoys. How far have these two come.

She really does hate to disturb him when he in his zone "Rick? I'm heading to work."

"Love you" he says while looking up to her face hoping to get a kiss

"Are you coming in?" Kate asks as she leans over to give him the kiss

"I plan to later. I need to write at least a few pages today. Then I'll come down to the precinct."

"OK. See you there. Love you" as she walks out of the loft

"Love you more" is his response

Kate has left their loft on her way to the station. When she gets into her cruiser her phone rings. It's the morgue

"Beckett"

She hears the voice of her best friend "Kate, can you come down here? I need to go over the results on both victims you had started on before you got sidetracked with the senator"

"OK Lanie, I'm on my way"

Beckett calls the station. Esposito answers and she tells him where she is going and that she will be in as soon as she gets the information from Lanie

When she arrives at the morgue and goes inside she finds herself face to face with Agent Mark Fallon with homeland security.

"Detective Beckett. Good to see you again"

"Agent Fallon this is a surprise. What brings you back to New York?"

"You might be working on a case that is related to an open investigation we have. We have credible intel that your victim may be related to an ongoing investigation concerning smuggling of weapons of mass destruction into the US"

"What case of mine would that be?"

"The John Doe you had in the shipping container"

"Oh yes the one that occurred about a week ago?"

"That is the one I am looking into. I just got word this morning that there is an agent from DEA gone missing down in Texas. He matches the description of your victim. Dr. Parish has requested the DNA on him."

Kate looks at Lanie "Did his fingerprints not match up on the Federal Database?"

"No. The body had decomposed enough that there were no usable prints."

Beckett is taking notes on the information that Fallon just gave her when he notices her wedding ring. Since he does not live in New York and does not follow the tabloid pages, he is unaware of the change in status for her

"Detective Beckett, I see you are sporting a wedding ring. The last time I saw you, you were dating a doctor I believe. Did you two get married?"

"No Agent Fallon. I married Rick Castle" Kate smiles just thinking about that answer

That statement brings a surprised look from the Homeland Security agent. "Really? You and Mr. Castle? I knew he was very interested in you, but I thought from the last time I was here you were dating the doctor"

"I was but sometimes life has a way of taking a different road than the one you started on"

"Yes it does. So congratulations on that. Where is he?"

"He has some writing he needed to do. He will be in later"

"Good. I am glad he will be joining in on this. He usually is very helpful in these unusual cases"

Kate's response to the compliment just given to her husband. "Yes he is"

* * *

Just moments after Kate leaves the loft, Rick's cell phone rings. Caller ID says "Blocked"

Rick looks at the screen for a moment considering who he believes is on the line. He taps the answer button. "Castle"

The man with the baritone voice at the other end speaks up "Mr. Castle"

Richard Castle somehow knew he would hear from this man again

"I see you found a solution to the problem that has been threatening Katherine Beckett's life for the last few years. You seem to have protected her without my help far better than I was able to do"

"Hello Mr. Smith I somehow knew that I would eventually hear from you"

"So Mr. Castle, I gather you did not believe I had died in that hospital?"

"No, Mr. Smith. I knew you were too well connected and could accomplish most anything you wanted. Even appearing to die"

"First Mr. Castle. I want to congratulate you for taking down a corrupt senator in a most imaginative way, I must say. Your plan was brilliant and well executed"

"Thank you but it was very much a team effort Now, I am positive that you did not reappear just to tell me what a good job we did"

"Very true Mr. Castle. There is another problem that might become an issue for you and your lovely bride."

"What might that be?" Castle asks very pointedly


	2. Chapter 2

"Agent Fallon what does Homeland Security have that makes them believe that my DB has anything to do with national security?"

"If in fact your victim is the missing DEA agent from Texas, he was working on a smuggling case involving drugs from Columbia. His last known whereabouts had him following up on a lead in Laredo, Texas. If he was getting too close to the Columbians then he may have been killed there and then put into that shipping container and transported up here via rail"

Lanie's computer chimes and she goes over to read the message as these two continue their conversation

"That would explain why we cannot find the primary crime scene at the docks. It is in Texas and not here in the city"

"Correct. We think he was probably killed in Laredo and stuffed into the container down there and shipped here along with the drugs"

"Agent Fallon. You are homeland security, not DEA. Why are you involved? This looks like just a simple drug smuggling case tied to a murder"

Agent Fallon looks around the room then steps over closer to Beckett. "We have good intelligence that along with the cocaine, the drugs may have been spiked with a bio warfare agent."

"Bio agent? What kind of bio agent?"

"Anthrax or possibly Smallpox"

This word brings a reaction from Doctor Parish "Smallpox? That could be fatal to a large part of the population!"

"Exactly" responds Fallon "We eradicated smallpox many years ago. In fact, since early 1970's we are no longer immunizing for this anymore. In fact they are even considering destroying the last virus sample in the CDC labs."

Kate glances at Lanie. "What does that mean?"

"Kate. If we were to have a smallpox epidemic start spreading in the city, it would devastate a large section of the population. The only immunity we had is the immunizations that were once conducted. Most citizens do not have immunity to the disease any longer"

Lanie looks back down to her computer screen. "He is our guy. I got the dental records and just confirmed them. He is the missing DEA agent"

Fallon takes out his cell phone and dials a number "Sir, they have confirmed that the body found in New York is agent Charlie Jackson. Yes sir. No doubt it is him. I know that this is a problem. Very well, I will brief the police."

Agent Fallon looks at Beckett "Detective, I need you to contact your headquarters and set up a briefing. This is critical"

Beckett takes her phone out of her pocket and dials the precinct.

Agent Fallon looks to Dr. Parish "Can you swab the container for smallpox or any other bio agent?"

Lanie answers "Yes, of course. I will have CSU go back out there and test. Do you think that this container was used to transport drugs into the city?"

"Very possibly. However I would prefer a trained medical professional such as yourself conduct the testing. And please be very careful in the event that they did transport an agent using this container. We don't need to have you get infected by this"

Kate gets off the phone and walks back over to where Agent Fallon and Dr. Parish as finishing their conversation

"One PP has been advised and they said that your department is already getting the ball rolling to set up an incident command post"

"Very good, detective." Then looking at Lanie "Doctor. I will be talking to you both later"

Then almost as an afterthought "And again congratulations detective on your marriage. I certainly wish the best for you and Mr. Castle"

"Thank you Agent Fallon" Kate is all smiles

Agent Fallon departs the morgue leaving only Kate and Lanie

"So Lanie, you have had an interesting morning with DEA bodies and Homeland security agents and threats of smallpox"

"I can think of better ways to spend the day however"

Kate reaches into her bag and comes out with her pad with notes about the wedding "Me too Lanie. I was coming here hoping you and I could start the wedding planning but it looks like we are both tied up for now"

Kate is looking at her note pad "Rick gave me the name of this caterer in The Hamptons who specializes in weddings. He said that weddings are their thing. But it looks like this will have to wait" She starts to put the pad back into her bag

Lanie grabs the notepad from Kate "So, girlfriend. What budget do I have to work with on this little party of yours?"

Kate writes down a dollar amount on the pad and hands it back to her best friend. Lanie looks at the paper and almost chokes. "Are you kidding me? This is my limit? Kate, there is no way I could spend that much money on your wedding. Did you rob a bank or what? How long have you been saving for this?"

"Lanie, Rick gave me money for the wedding. He told me that he wants my wedding to be everything I could possibly desire and if I needed more all I had to do was just ask."

"Girlfriend. Please tell me that you plan on keeping this guy."

"Lanie. I am definitely keeping him, but the money is not the main reason." Kate smiles and a slight red appears on her cheeks "I have a lot of other more fun reasons for keeping him" Kate says with a giggle in her voice "He's really a good cook"

"Oh I'm sure his cooking is the main reason for keeping him. No wait. You were not referring to cooking in the kitchen were you? Never mind. Don't answer that"

That brings a laugh from Kate

"Anyway you were supposed to tell me everything that happened during you little Vegas trip. I am still waiting"

As Kate turns to leave "Lanie, some things that happened in Vegas still need to stay in Vegas"

Beckett leaves the morgue and heads down to her cruiser and on to the precinct. When she arrives on the homicide floor there is activity everywhere. The bull pen is packed with officers. Desks have been moved and there are faces she does not recognize. Their working area has been turned into a war room. Extra telephones, computers and several large screen televisions have been placed in the room. Kate walks over to Ryan who is the only one she sees that is not currently on the phone or otherwise in conversation.

"Kevin. What is going on?"

"Beckett. They have set us up to be the city's EOC for this operation."

"I thought that One PP is the city's Emergency Operations Center?"

"It is normally. They are using us as primary in case there is an attack against the city. We are the precinct furthest away from there that is large enough that we can take over in the event of an emergency."

"They didn't waste any time. Did they?"

"No boss, they started showing up almost as soon as you called from the morgue"

Captain Gates steps out into the bull pen. "Detective Beckett. Can I see you in my office?"

"Yes Sir" Beckett looks over at Ryan then walks into the captain's office

"Homeland Security has asked if you will be the New York Police incident commander"

"Of course sir. But why me?"

"They actually asked if Mr. Castle would be involved as well. They like the way the two of you work together and I told them I agree with the choice. So is he coming in?"

"Yes sir, he was writing when I left and he said he would be in later"

"Detective, will you call him and make sure he is dressed? We will send a unit to pick him up and get him in here as quickly as possible"

"Yes sir" Kate picks up her phone and dials her husband

"Castle"

"Rick, are you dressed?"

"Almost! Why?

"A squad car is coming to pick you up and bring you to the station."

"Why? What is going on?"

"I can't tell you on the phone. Just be ready"

"But Kate! What is happening?"

"I'll tell you when you get here" Kate looks around the room at all the activity "just be ready for a ride."


	3. Chapter 3

Richard Castle had dressed and is ready when there is a knock at the front door. When he opens the door, he faces two very large NYPD officers.

"Mr. Castle? We are here to take you to the 12th"

"Let me get my coat "Rick responds while getting his overcoat from the closet beside the door

Castle and the two uniformed officers exit the building to the street where they enter the squad car. After they leave the curb, Castle questions the two "Do you know what is happening that I am being delivered to the station in a patrol car?"

"No Mr. Castle. We were only told to pick you up and get you to the station ASAP"

Castle leans back and waits for his ride to get him to the precinct.

When they arrive it is obvious that there is something happening different. The city of New York police command van is parked in the front and there are a number of officers out front. Rick exits the vehicle and starts to walk up the steps to the front door. He is challenged by a uniformed officer before he can even open the main doors.

"Sir, I am sorry, but the station is closed to civilians right now. You will have to come back at another time"

"I am Richard Castle and I was directed to be here and just picked up by officers"

"Well, I am sorry, but that is the rules today"

At that moment, Kevin Ryan sees Castle "Officer Klein, this man is cleared. He has not received his credentials yet. He is here as a civilian consultant. I will take him in with me"

The officer guarding the door lets the pair pass. When they get inside the building, Castle turns to Ryan "Kevin, what is going on?"

Ryan looks to see if anyone is listening. "Rick, there is a credible threat to the city. Homeland security has activated the EOC and the 12th has been assigned as the city's Emergency Operations Center. And Beckett is the Incident Commander"

Rick Castle has just been slapped in the face by this information. "Kevin, I need to see Kate as quickly as possible"

"I understand, but first I have to get you credentials. I need to take you to the check in area"

Ryan takes Castle to the 2nd floor of the precinct. This is a floor that Castle has not previously been on. This is where they have set up the check in area. Ryan takes Rick to the sign in desk. He looks at the officer "Sergeant, this is Richard Castle. He needs badging. He is cleared level 5"

The check in sergeant looks at his log book and then at Castle. "May I see some form of ID Mr. Castle?"

Rick presents his New York driver's license. The sergeant looks at the photograph and then types into his computer. Looks at the image that is present on the screen the looks back to Castle. "Very good, Mr. Castle. Please step in front of the screen and look at the camera."

The camera snaps as the photograph is taken. "Please wait over there Mr. Castle while we print your badge" The officer points to a row of chairs. Ryan follows Castle to the chairs.

"Kevin! What in the world is happening? Why all the security? Badges? Photographs?"

Ryan looks down the hall briefly "We have been told by homeland security that the dead body found in the shipping container last week was a DEA agent who was following up on a drug deal down in Texas. He was tracking a shipment of cocaine from Columbia. But the shipment had been intercepted by some terrorists and has been laced with what is believed to be Smallpox"

"Smallpox? That is deadly. No one has been immunized for smallpox in over 30 years"

"We know. If this gets out then the population of New York is in danger of an epidemic. In fact the entire country is in danger"

"Mr. Castle" the check-in desk announces

Castle and Ryan get up. Castle walks over and picks up his badge. He looks at the piece of plastic. It has the photograph that was just taken along with his name. On the top line it says New York Police Department. The next line says Department of Homeland Security. Then across the bottom in large red letters Level 5. He puts the badge on using the lanyard attached.

"Kevin, what is this Level 5 statement?"

"It means you have clearance to go anywhere you nee to go. No one will stop you now. Only Beckett, Lanie, Espo, I and now you have level 5 clearance. Well of course Fallon also has it"

"Fallon? Agent Fallon from Homeland Security? He's here?"

"Yeah! He is running the operation from their perspective. Of course you wife is in charge for the city. She is the big cheese today. Looks like you have to take orders from her right now. Oh wait, I bet you have been taking orders from her for awhile now"

"Funny, Kevin. Very funny"

When they get on the elevator to go up to the 4th floor, Castle notices that the elevator's floor buttons no longer work. Ryan takes Castle's badge and places it next to the card reader and then the buttons activate

"You have to use your badge now to get on any floor except 2. You cannot even enter the building without an ID now."

"I see that. So, what else can you tell me about what is happening?"

"Not a lot, yet. We are waiting for lab reports from Lanie on the container. They think that they will find traces of the drugs along with the virus"

"They really think that they will find smallpox?"

"That is the current concern"

The elevator exit on the 4th floor. Castle is visually taken back. The floor looks nothing like it did the last time he was here. It is obvious that the station is now some type of a command post. The last time he saw this level of deployment was when FBI agent Jordan Shaw set up her command post. But this time it is way more intense. Castle immediately starts looking for his wife. He sees Kate in the conference room. She is meeting with Gates, Esposito and two men in uniform. When he gets closer he sees that they are the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief.

He stops just outside the door as he would normally do when it was obvious that this was a high level city officials meeting. Kate looks out and sees her husband and motions him to come in

"Rick, this is Police Chief Dawson and Fire Chief O'Leary. Gentlemen this is Richard Castle. He is a civilian consultant to the NYPD"

Castle extends his hand to the two men and they exchange greetings Chief Dawson speaks first "Good to see you Rick. The last time we were together he took me for a couple of hundred dollars at that green table he keeps in the corner of his loft."

Castle chuckles "Yeah Chief. But the Mayor took both of us for a lot that night. After this is over I will set up a return match and we can both see if we can get some of our money back"

"That will be great Rick. Well I see that us letting you be involved in the NYPD homicide department has paid off in several ways."

"How so?"

"The case closure rate is way up here in this station and I see a very happy Detective Beckett here in front of me. Congratulations to the both of you"

Kate smiles briefly "Gentlemen, Thank you, but we need to focus on the current problem facing us. We have a credible threat that Homeland security believes is real. The container where we found DEA agent Charlie Jackson did show it had been used to ship cocaine. But more importantly, Dr. Parish also found a very small almost undetectable trace of Smallpox virus. The virus was dead and non viable, but is does show the container did contain a virus"

Rick is shocked by the cold hard facts he is hearing. "Who do we suspect is behind this?"

"We are not sure. The investigation is just beginning. We have officers bringing in the longshoremen that made the discovery. The first problem with them is they may be infected since they found the body. We do not know if the virus was alive or dead when they made their discovery. We are putting them into isolation as we speak. That is set up at the morgue. That way we have containment"

"Detective, what do you need from fire and police now?"

"Mobilize your squads and have them ready to deploy anywhere in the city in case there is an incident. Set up command centers strategically placed for quick response. If there is an outbreak, we want to isolate it fast to prevent spread. My team here at the12th will conduct investigations and try to locate the shipment before it gets cut. My fear is that the drugs are being cut right now into smaller sellable bags. Once the suppliers have started opening the bricks and cutting them into sellable packages, the virus can start spreading. It takes 10 days from exposure to outbreak. We need to stop it before it begins"

The police and fire chiefs leave the room leaving only Castle and Beckett

"Rick I have never been more scared in my life than I am today" She steps over and puts her arms around her husband

"I know. But I have a piece of news that might help"

Kate looks up to Ricks face

"I got a call from someone after you left. He said that someone needs our help and that this someone might help us right here"

"Who called you?"

"Mr. Smith."


	4. Chapter 4

CONTAINMENT

Beckett's phone rings. The caller ID says Esposito. Kate pulls back from Rick "Beckett"

"Beckett. The tents have been set up on the parking lot at the morgue and uniforms have picked up the group longshoremen who found the DEA agent's body. They have just brought them here to isolation"

"Great. Thanks Javi. Castle and I will be down there in just a few minutes." She hangs up the call and looks over to her husband, who now just happens to be sporting his official badge.

"Good looking badge there Mr. Castle"

"Why thank you Mrs. Castle. I see you have a new one too. But yours says IC. What does IC mean?"

"Incident Commander. That means that, at least until this incident is terminated, I am your boss. Then we go back to where we were before"

"Oh! You mean you will no longer be the Incident Commander boss of me. But you will be just my wife boss of me? Either way you will be my boss?"

"Very funny! The one thing that I know will ever happen between us is for me to be your boss"

"You may not be my boss, but you can make me do whatever you wanted for almost five years and I am always happy to do it"

"Come on big guy. Before I jump you right here, let's you and me go interrogate a few longshoremen"

"What a minute. Are these the same ones who wanted to know if you were interested in seeing how big a load a…"

"Do not finish that sentence if you know what's good for you"

"Yes ma'am" Castle says as they get onto the elevator

Outside the front of the station, the city's public information officer has just begun a press briefing

There is a large contingent of media outside at the steps asking what is happening inside. Why all the security and why is the police command van parked out front? The PIO begins by handing out an official press release. It states that they are participating in an emergency drill in conjunction with Homeland Security and the Center's for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The press packet contains catch phrase language terms such as "Power Outage", "Storm Flooding", "Bird Flu", "Pandemic" and all types of multiple syllable words to cover up the real issue going on inside. Then the final line "This is only a practice drill" to try to get the media off the scent

As Beckett and Castle exit the building thru the garage Rick is looking at the crowd in the front "Do you think they really believe that we are only having a drill?"

"I doubt it. There is way too much going on for them to buy our cover story. Rick, you haven't told me. What did Smith want?"

"Ah yes. He gave me a story about the two women that were picked up at the bar that day. He said that they are identical twins and it appears that they are your half sisters. These are the eggs that were taken from your mother many years ago"

"Not only twins but my twin sisters?"

Kate has an unusual look on her face. One that Rick cannot remember ever seeing before

"Kate! Don't feel like there are sisters like you would have grown up knowing. They may share your DNA, but they are not you"

"I know. It's just a little unnerving knowing there actually is someone out there that even looks like me"

"He said there are two that look like you and when Bracken had them picked up he thought that one of them was you."

"This was part of your plan? Getting him to think I was locked up and when I stepped out at the press briefing, he panicked"

"I didn't know he had them picked up but I knew he would think you were telling the story that we had the video evidence, but when I found out about the two women picked up at the bar and that they looked like you, I was hoping he thought you were gone for good"

"Rick, your plan worked perfectly"

"Actually better than perfect. I loved the way he freaked out when he saw you. It was great. Really great"

"Well back to what is happening right now. What do these women have to do with this case?"

"Smith said that one of the women, Angie Cooper was working with the DEA agent before she was called back here. She probably has information about this case and can give us important information. If we can get her out, she can help with the investigation"

"What about Andrea? Her last name was Richardson. She was raised by your father. Was Angie raised by someone else?"

"Evidently the girls were separated at an early age and raised by separate agents. Her last name is the man who raised her. Her dad and Richardson had worked together at the time they discovered the doctor and his experiments. Each man chose to adopt one of the girls. Smith says that they believe the two girls accidentally found each other during an operation about 5 years ago."

"Rick, what department do they work for? This all seems a little strange"

"This is more than just a little strange. It is scary strange. If this group can kidnap two women and hold them forever. They are powerful beyond my wildest story dreams"

The Castles turn off the main street and start to pull into the parking lot at the morgue. They can see the containment tent set up. There are several trailers connected with air purification units to filter the breathing air and prevent any possible agents from escaping into the atmosphere. There is an officer at a guard station waving them to stop. Beckett lowers her window

"Sorry, Ma'am this area is closed today you will have to turn around and…"

Beckett holds up her badge to the officer. Castle also shows his badge. The officer sees the IC across the bottom of Beckett's badge and he immediately moves to open the gate to them

"Sorry, sir. I didn't know you were coming down today. Please park over in the first space. It is the one reserved for you" He points to the parking area closest to the containment tent

"Thank you officer. Have you seen Dr. Parish?"

"Yes sir, she is inside the building at intake. She is processing the men brought in from the docks"

"Thank you" Kate pulls her car into the spot reserved for her.

As they start to get out of the car Castle comments "Well Kate OH Excuse me. 'SIR!' it appears you will finally be getting all the respect that I knew you deserved all these years."

"Hush Castle. It's actually a little embarrassing"

"Embarrassing? I think you are really enjoying this"

"Oh, maybe a little"

"OH NO!" Castle suddenly stops and comments

Looking at Rick "What's wrong? " Kate questions

"I guess this means that I have to call you SIR the next time you and I make love? I have never made love to a sir before"

That comment brings Rick a poke on his arm. He smiles back to his girl "I love you too"

As they approach the front door they come face to face with another guard who tries to stop them. Again Beckett shows her badge and the guard allows her to pass. He tries to stop Castle, but when he sees that his ID says Level 5 he also is allowed in. After they enter the door Kate notices that everything is different. The usual reception desk now has a sign above saying "CHECK-IN". The person behind the desk asks Beckett where she needs to go.

"I need to see Dr. Parish"

"She is in the intake area just down this hall and then outside to the containment tent" the clerk directs the pair to where the intake has been set up just outside the building exit near the conference room.

They exit the main building and into the tent. Each entrance they pass, there is another guard.

"Rick, they are serious on keeping this contained. I have never seen this much security surrounding any event."

"I know that I will never be able to tell this story, but it would have been a great book for Derrick Storm"

When they get to the area marked intake they see Lanie working at a computer "Hey, Lanie"

Looking up "Hey you two. How in the world did you get in? They have this place guarded like Fort Knox"

Castle looks to his wife then speaks to Dr. Parish "I guess you did not hear. My girl is the big boss for this operation"

Lanie looks at Beckett's badge "WOW. You're the Incident Commander? You go girl. That means I can talk to you about anything." Then looking at Castle "but I'm not sure about this one"

Castle shows her his badge. "I'm important too, you know"

"Writer Boy! You are only important because my girl here loves you. Otherwise I'm not too sure"

Beckett looks toward the medical examiner "Lanie, what do you have?"

"The five longshoremen claim they did not enter the container. They said that when they smelled the decomp, they called the port authority police. Then the port police called you. If this is true, then they are probably ok. My fear is for the ones who unloaded the container, how much exposure did they get? How much cocaine was in the container? And most importantly, where is it now?"

"Where are the longshoremen right now?" Beckett questions

"They are each in containment rooms. Follow this secure corridor and you will see the rooms." Lanie points down a hallway into the main isolation tent

"We will be back." Kate and Rick start walking under the plastic housing "Rick do you remember when you and I were put in one of these?"

"I remember very well. You were feeling abandoned by Josh and started telling me about what type man you wish you could find" Rick takes Kate's hand "And for some dumb reason I was having trouble finding the words to tell you how I felt about you. I was trying to tell you that I wanted to be the man you were looking for. Then just as I got the nerve to say something they came and told us we could go. You don't know how many times I kicked myself for not finishing that conversation"

Kate stops and turns toward him. He has just brought up an event that she was thinking about earlier. It was important turning point for him too. She looks into Rick's eyes "I love you so much. You have no idea"


	5. Chapter 5

**YES I did pull the original Chapters one and two. They will come back at the end  
Please Forgive me  
**

* * *

Trapped in a Prison

She screams at the top of her lungs

"HELP!"

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!"

Her words are dying without ever passing thru the walls. No sound penetrates the cell surrounding her. No one hears her screams. She is alone. Totally and completely alone. No one can hear her. No one can see her. No one can help her. No one can ever help her.

Inside this room there are no books to read. She has no television to watch. She has no radio to listen to. She is surrounded by four blank white walls. She is in isolation. Total and complete isolation

Trapped in this prison. A prison with padded walls. A bed bolted to the floor. A combination toilet with built in sink on top. The mirror above that is built into the wall is a stainless steel plate polished so she can see her own reflection. At least she can see her reflection to assure herself that she is who she believes she is. She can see her own hazel eyes. She can see her own long auburn hair she knows who she is. She has not changed. She is still who she knows exactly who she is. She is not someone else.

They think she is someone else. They keep calling her by someone else's name. Not her name. Her name is…? Wait, what is her name? Why can't she remember her name? They keep calling her someone else. That's not right. Her name is not that other name. Her name is…? Wait! What is my name? Why can't I remember my name? It has been my name all my life. The name that belongs to me. The other name they call me does not belong to me.

She looks in the mirror. Yes, the face she sees is her face. Not someone else's face. Her face. The face belongs to…? What is my name? Why can't I remember my name?

There is a sound at the door. Someone is there. The door opens and a man enters carrying a tray. A food tray

"Help me! Please Help me! They won't let me go. Why are they keeping me? I didn't do anything. PLEASE! Help me! PLEASE!"

"Now we have talked about this many times. You are here because you had a breakdown and you think that you are someone else. Now until we can get this all worked out we must keep you here"

"I don't want to be here. I just want to go home. Please! Can I just go home?" there is pleading in her voice. Begging!

"We will let you go home as soon as all the other memory things are fixed. So here is your dinner. You need to eat. You have not eaten very well since you have been here"

With trembling in her voice "I'm not hungry. I want to go home. Please, I just want to go home."

"Now you know until you get well, you have to stay here. Now what is you name?"

"My name is…" There is a moment of understanding in her voice "Beckett. My name is Kate Beckett. Please call my dad. He will tell you who I am"

He places the tray on holder on top of the sink. He reaches over to her shoulder and touches her gently. See now that wasn't hard" Then he turns and leaves the room. Outside he rejoins another orderly "We seem to be getting thru to her She no longer claims that she is that Angie Cooper cover name. It has taken this long. That girl is really screwed up"

"Yeah. I don't know what kind of operations they send these agents on but they always come in here completely messed up. They go so deep undercover they even forget their real name."

"True, but the drugs we have in their food normally gets them to snap out eventually"

"But this one is strong. She finally admits that her real name is Kate Beckett"

* * *

Castle and Beckett enter the make shift interrogation room and Kate starts thinking "So Rick, how do we help these women?"

"Smith told me information about the hotel in Delaware where the women are being kept. It is a real hotel that accepts real tourists. So I think we go there and check in. Then look around before we pull the plug on their little operation."

"How will we get into the prison?"

"Smith said there are codes used to get into the secure area. A person tells them they are planning a wedding reception and simply ask to see the Cactus Ballroom. Since there is no Cactus Ballroom, the staff let you into the secure area. Smith said it was several levels underground and well guarded"

Kate thinks for a moment before answering. "This sound like a plan. A plan from one of your books, but still a plan."

Beckett and Castle are now sitting at a desk in the interrogation room at the medical isolation facility. The longshoremen are being brought into the adjoining isolation room one by one to be questioned. So far each man has told the exact same story. They walked by the container and smelled something, looked in and saw the dead agent and then called the port police.

Beckett is not exactly buying the tale they are telling. The information that they are giving seems made up. It sounds like they planned what to say down to the last word. "Rick, are you buying their stories?"

"No. How can five men who work on the docks not know why this one container was separated from all the others? Every one of the containers is numbered and the computer tracks the shipper, the carrier and the final destination along with the scheduled contents. Why is it that that this one container seems to have NO tracking data in the computer? It just seems to have shown up without proper documentation"

It looks like this Dennis O'Leary is the ring leader of this group. He's the one with the smart mouth and sidesteps all our questions."

At this moment the door opens into the room and Agent Mark Fallon walks in "Good morning you two"

Castle and Beckett both turn at the greeting "Hello Agent Fallon" Ricks speaks

"Mr. Castle, I am pleased to see you have joined our little party. Have either of you found anything new?"

Kate answers "Not from this group yet. We are getting ready to question the longshoremen who found the body. Rick thinks that they know more than they are telling. He feels that this container could not have arrived without someone on the docks knowing. But right now it is all just conjecture. We have no other evidence to back it up"

"We need something to jump start the men to get one of them to open up. Then the rest should follow suit. But Agent Fallon, I also have something that might be of help here"

Rick shifts in his chair toward where Fallon has placed himself "A Mr. Michael Smith has been in contact with me. He is a man that I have had dealings with in the past. His information has proven to be of benefit before and I believe he may be spot on with this."

Rick continues "Mr. Smith contacted me after Kate was shot. He had information about the involvement of Senator Bracken in Kate's mother's murder and the attempts on Kate's life. I think he may be connected to one of these agencies that appear to exist only under the vale of secrecy"

"Are you referring to CIA? NSA?"

"NSA. But he did know that she was one in a set of twins who Bracken had picked up and taken to a secure rehab facility in Delaware thinking he was getting Kate out of the way".

"So that's why Bracken was so panicked. He thought Detective Beckett was gone and then she showed up at the press conference?"

"Exactly. So when Smith called me this morning he told me that the one woman is an agent with NSA and she was working on a possible terrorist case involving a virus of some kind. Before she could be debriefed Bracken had her picked up and taken to the facility in Delaware."

Fallon asks "Why don't you two go to Delaware and see what you can find and I will work on the men from the docks and see if one of them wants to talk"

Beckett starts picking up her files "Great. Then Castle and I will go there and see what we can dig up on that end"

"Remember Detective. You are the incident commander and you have all authority. If you need additional resources, all you have to do is order them up"

"Understood Agent Fallon" Kate answers as she and Rick get up and leave leave the room


	6. Chapter 6

Richard Castle is totally in awe of his wife. She picks up the phone and there is a jet waiting to take them to Delaware. She dials another number and upon arrival they have an SUV waiting on the tarmac along with a driver. She calls for a meeting of local and federal law enforcement and all in attendance are under her command.

"May I have everyone's attention:" Becket speaks loudly and with authority "We have credible evidence that there is a clandestine operation taking place at a hotel in the area. It is possible that this is a sanctioned holding location, however they are keeping at least two individuals against their will and not involved in any action that would have brought them to be detained here. Mr. Castle and I are going inside and attempt to penetrate the shroud surrounding this facility. Once inside, we will attempt to locate and retrieve these two without disrupting their other operations. We have assignments for all departments. Officer Esposito has your instructions. Please see him for any details."

Beckett pauses while several commanders retrieve their paperwork "Any questions?"

Another pause "OK let's go get these women out"

The local police and fire chief walk over to Beckett "Ms. Beckett, can we have a word?"

"Of course"

"Ma'am, we heard a rumor that there is some type of biological threat involved here. Is this true?"

"Chief, I will assure you that the only thing. And I repeat the only thing happening in your community is the rescue of these two women. If you look at what we brought, it is only tactical gear. We have no biological protection with us of any kind."

"You would tell us if we had anything else to be concerned about?"

"Yes chief. My normal job is a detective in New York. I know how you are concerned. So from one police officer to another, we are here on a rescue mission. Nothing else"

The two officers speak in unison "Thank you detective" and they walk back to their group

Kate then steps back over to her husband and partners Ryan and Esposito "Guys, I hope this goes well. Everyone here is concerned that they are in danger. I hope I quenched their fears"

Ryan looks over to Castle "Well, if you to planned this as well as the Bracken video, I'm good"

"Esposito agrees "Yeah! Me too"

The four exit the hanger and enter the awaiting SUV. The drive is about an hour from the airport to the hotel. As the vehicle pulls out onto the boulevard Kate's phone rings. It's Lanie

"Hey Lanie. What's up?"

_{listen}_

Kate listens for a moment "Oh I guess we can"

_{listen}_

"OK, I would use that list, plus don't forget everyone in the precinct"

_{listen}_

"Paula will handle the press"

_{listen}_

"Lanie, I trust you. The cake and food is all on the list you and I worked on last week."

_{listen}_

"I trust the planner to take care of those details."

_{listen}_

"All right. Great! We are about to go into the hotel and get these girls out. I'll call you when I can. OK, Bye" Beckett hangs up

Ricks looks at Kate "Lanie working on the wedding plans?"

"Yeah. She has some free time until the lab results come back on the DEA agent, so she wanted to get with the caterer and get it all ordered"

Castle looks at his lady "Does she need anything? She have enough money?"

Kate takes Rick's hand then leans into his ear "She has more than enough. I love you so much for wanting to do this."

"I just want it to be perfect."

She smiles "It already is"

Beckett's phone rings again. Caller ID says Fallon "Beckett. Hello Agent Fallon" She listens for a moment "Really? That's great. Can you send the details to my tablet? We are on our way to the hotel now and I will let you know when we have the girls out. Talk to you then" She hangs up from the call

"Agent Fallon got the ringleader to finally talk. When he told O'Leary that he was involved in terrorist activities and would be spending the rest of his natural life living in Guantanamo, he opened up. The details are being sent to my pad right now"

Beckett takes her tablet from her bag and brings up the file on the operation. Recently added documents contain the confession from the dock workers. She starts reading the summary information to the other three.

"The dock workers were paid very well to take the container off of the inter modal train and place it in an area of the dock with no cameras so that whoever was unloading it would not be seen by security. They claim they did not know it was involving terrorism. They also claim that the people who arranged this had good ole southern accents. No foreign accents. The dock workers thought that these guys were just smuggling drugs or possibly guns"

"So Beckett, We have home grown terrorists?" Ryan comments

"It looks that way, Ryan. Fallon had tech looking at the cameras that do exist nearby and they saw a small compact car enter the area and then car along with a panel van leave just a few minutes later. So it appears that van was inside the container. Nothing to unload they just got in and drove it out quickly"

Castle is looking over Kate's shoulder at the tablet "Can they get a license plate from the video. It looks like it might be too blurry"

"They are working on it and will get that to us as soon as it finish rendering. They said it will be later today. So for now, we wait"

The car is quiet for a minute then Ryan asks "OK Beckett, Castle when are these nuptials planned?"

"Three weeks from last weekend. At our place in the Hamptons Javi" Castle comments

Castle's comment about the Hamptons being "our" place makes Kate smile. It's not just his place anymore

"Bro. You don't have a brother so who's your best man?"

Esposito is trying to see if he is picking Ryan or himself "Actually, I am having a best woman. Lexi is standing up with me."

"Hey man. That's cool having your daughter do that. I think she is the one affected the most by you two getting married. It has been just you, her, and your mom for so many years, adding another woman to the house must be a little tough for them"

Castle takes Beckett's hand "You guys didn't know we were together for the last year. But Alexis and my mother did and they were totally on board with us being a couple. They knew that Kate and I were heading toward the marriage so it is not much of an adjustment for them"

Esposito looks at Ryan "Just so you two know. We were getting worried that you were getting farther away from each other and might not become a couple. We saw…correct that, EVERYONE saw you were meant for each other. We saw the love you had."

Kate says "thanks guys" just as the SUV pulls into the hotel.

Ryan and Esposito walk into the lobby first then Castle and Beckett go in a few minutes later.

As the couple step up to the desk the clerk asks what he can do for them. Kate answers first "Hello this is my fiancé Richard Castle and I am Kate Beckett. We were looking to have our wedding reception here at your hotel and we would like to see the Cactus Room"

When the words "Kate Beckett" are spoken the manager turns and looks toward the desk. The look of sheer terror on his face is evident. He knows that Kate Beckett is one of the women they have incarcerated in the facility and the woman standing at the desk looks exactly like her. He reaches to the phone nearby and dials a number.

When the phone is answered he says "Sir, We have a problem. We have A BIG problem"


	7. Chapter 7

No copyright infringement intended The title below belongs to The Eagles and the writer of the song

* * *

Welcome to the Hotel Cal-nia

The hotel manager listens to the phone for a moment then after he hangs up he steps up to the desk "Hello I am Larry Hudson. I am the manager of this facility. Did I understand you would like to see the Cactus Ballroom?"

"Yes we would. My name is Kate Beckett and this is my fiancé, Richard Castle and we would like to arrange to have our wedding reception there at your hotel. We have been told that the Cactus Ball room is the place to be"

"Very well, Ms. Beckett, Mr. Castle? If you will follow me, I will be glad to give you the tour" He leads Beckett and Castle down a corridor toward the elevators. He presses both the up and down buttons at the same time "So when are you getting married?"

Taken back by the question and not sure if this is part of the entry codes Castle answers "We have not set a firm date yet. We are waiting to see about arranging the reception hall first. We are thinking about the late spring."

Kate continues the conversation "Yes the flowers are in bloom and the air is warm but not yet too hot. We are even thinking about an outside wedding" She looks over at Rick with true love in her eyes, thinking about the real ceremony that is being planned by Lanie.

"My best friend is arranging the wedding location and such. We just wanted to check into a reception location inside where we could dance and entertain our guests"

"Very good. We have many days open and can probably accommodate you any time that you are in need of the room" He points to the elevator that has just arrived and the doors have opened. The trio get in

After the doors close he turns toward the pair and removes a 9mm from beneath his jacket. "OK! We don't know who you are or think you are but we will be finding out very soon."

The ride down several levels is in total silence. When the doors open there stands two more men holding weapons. Hudson directs the two to exit on the floor

"Who are you really and how do you know about this place and how did you know the password?"

Beckett stares directly at the manager "We are federal agents and are here to expedite the release of two women that are being detained illegally in this facility"

Castle and Beckett both try to reach inside their jackets and present their credentials

"I am Commander Kate Beckett and this is Mr. Richard Castle and we are with Homeland Security. So put your weapons down"

"I am afraid that those badges are worthless you have no authority here. This is a facility operating way above your pay grade" then Hudson turns to the other two guards, "search them and take whatever they have into my office. I will look thru their stuff later"

The two men take Beckett's bag and then search Castle. One of the men looks at Beckett and she says "If you touch me there will be repercussions later"

This man decides to disregard the fact that she is a woman and starts to frisk her. At which point Castle goes after the guard and Beckett lands a right fist into the man's nose.

Hudson yells "OK stop this. We will get a woman guard down here later to do a strip search of her. Take them both to intake and I will be back and question them later"

Looking at Beckett "We will be forced to keep you here until we find out exactly who you are and who sent you. This might just be an indefinite stay for you two or at least until our command tells us otherwise"

"Beckett looks directly into Hudson's eyes "You are the one operating outside your pay grade. My authority comes from way above you and your bosses. Now I said put down your weapons, NOW! And I want to see the two women you are holding here against their will. These are the two who look like me"

"Lady! I said I don't know who you think you are, but I can assure you that I am in control here and you are going to find yourselves here for a very, very long time."

Castle looks over to Hudson "You have no idea who you are dealing with mister. We do have the authority and we will use it"

"You, Mr. Castle, if that is your real name, are the one operating with under false hopes. You will disappear for a good long time down here" motioning to the guards, one who now has a bloody nose, "take these two away".

After the guards walk off with Beckett and Castle, Hudson's phone rings. He enters the elevator as he answers the call

"Hudson! Yes sir I have them. They claim to be Federal agents, but I recognize the male. He is a mystery book writer named Richard Castle." Hudson listens for a moment "Yes sir, I'm sure that this is the writer Castle. I have read several of his books and I recognize his picture from the dust covers of his books. He has written about the CIA and he was very accurate in his details"

After listening for a moment he continues "Yes sir, he got to do research with a now deceased CIA operative named Turner, I believe. She got him inside the company"

Hudson listens again "Well I think that the woman he brought with him is related to the two other recent women brought in. She may be an agent herself. In fact, this woman he brought called herself the Kate Beckett name. That means she knows about the other two in some manor. I think he somehow was able to get the password and is trying to do research into our little hotel for his next book."

Another pause listening "Yes I believe we need to change the password immediately. Yes sir I will do that as soon as I get back upstairs"

He listens briefly "Very well, sir. I was planning on holding them anyway, but I will process them into detention just as you say. Right away sir. These two will never see the light of day ever again"


	8. Chapter 8

The director's office

Assistant Director Bobby Markham hangs up his telephone and looks across the room. He is looking at nothing but the opposite wall of his office. He believed that this day might come sooner or later. He never thought it would come in this manor. He figured that some congress oversight committee would slam the door on their operation. He never thought it would be exposed because of some nosey civilian book writer.

He gets up and walks around his desk and steps over to the window and looks out over the city. Here he is in his crystal tower separated from all the dangers he has had to send others into in the past.

Maybe this is the sign he needed for him to see that it is time for him retire. He has enough credit to get full retirement. But he would rather retire without some Raging Storm cloud hanging over his head.

Stepping back to his desk, he picks up his telephone and calls out to his assistant "Rita, please have the senior staff assemble in the conference room in ten minutes"

Rita Alvarez opens an instant message box on her terminal and sends a broadcast message to all the members of the senior staff "Meeting in main conference room in 10 minutes" She then waits to get the responses. One by one all the members acknowledge the meeting request. She picks up her phone and dials back inside to her boss "Sir, all have been notified"

MS. Alvarez has worked in this department long enough to know when an urgent meeting is called that something is up and it is not going to be pretty. She takes a note book from her top drawer and walks toward the meeting room. When she arrives she goes to the counter and sets up the coffee carafe and water pitcher. She brings out soft drinks, bottled water, coffee, and tap water with ice. From the upper cabinets she removes classes and coffee cups in preparation of whatever the participants are wanting.

By the time she is finished with her preparation, the members of the staff are arriving. The first ones to arrive look at her. One of the men speaks up "Rita, do you know why we are here? What is going on?"

"Mr. Simmons, I really don't know exactly what is going on? I do know Mr. Markham got several phone calls from Delaware and he seems concerned about them"

The rest of the staff drifts in and then finally Bobby Markham steps into the room and closes the door. He walks to the head of the table

"Ladies and Gentlemen, We have a serious problem. The Delaware facility has had a breach." There are several audible gasps

"It seems a mystery book writer and his assistant have been able to get the password and entered the facility. The manager believes that this man" looking at his notes "A mister Richard Castle is trying to do research for a book. He writes mystery novels and has in the past done stories based loosely on research he did with the help of company agents. As of now we have him and his lady friend in custody and we will be dealing with them in the usual manor"

Gordon Simmons interrupts "Bob. Do we really think that holding them is a good idea? This mister Castle might be too high a profile to be kept there out of touch. What if his friends know where he is and they come looking for him?"

"We can deny any knowledge of him being there. After all, this is only a hotel catering to tourists and in fact if none of you have noticed, the last issue of Travel The World Magazine listed us as four and a half stars. They said our Sunday Brunch Buffet is the best in three states and our Spa is the best around." This comment brings a few chuckles from around the room

Simmons comments "So we just pretend that there is nothing happening there?"

"Yes! We continue to operate the debriefing center just like we have for thirty years and if anything is said about this man. Well, we never heard of Richard Castle. If he wants to stick his nose into our business, he will get it chopped off."

"What about security? If he knew the pass codes to get in then probably someone else knows them too" Simmons again asks

"Yes, true" again looking at his notes "We are changing the passwords, let me see…The patron will ask to see the menu for the Sunrise Restaurant."

The members of the group make notes then Markham stands back up "Everyone, we need to watch this situation very carefully. We may have foreign agents trying to get past our defenses. We must stay diligent. Thank all of you for being here. Let's go back to work and protect what we cherish the most"

The group begins to disburse and return to their respective offices. Bobby Markham stops one of the men "Mike, will you stay for a few minutes?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

Alvarez looks at her boss "Mr. Markham do you need me to stay and take notes?"

"No Rita. You can go back to your desk. Thank you"

"Yes sir" She leaves and closes the door behind her

"Mike, I know you have not been back to this section for very long, but you have been involved on and off with this group for many years. You have seen successes and failures in the things we try to do. You are also our senior legal council. What do you think about what we are trying to do here?"

He sits briefly thinking about the plan he just heard "Bob. I am not sure that this is the way we should handle this. This Castle fellow has done research before with the CIA and he was discrete in the way he handled it, we might be causing ourselves a serious problem if and when he gets out. He could bring about all type of problems if we detain him and his lady friend. I believe I heard he is well connected with mayors, judges, and many other important political figures."

"Mike, we can't have him disclosing information about our center. You know even most members of congress do not even know this exists. It could make a lot of bad press for us if he talks. I think for now, we keep him and this woman detained. Later if there is any claim by him we will just deny it's existence and we will he will been seen as a fool"

"Bob, you are the assistant director and your word goes, but I want to go on record that I think it is a mistake doing this"

"Your concern is noted. Thanks Mike. I need to go to another meeting. I will see you later"

The two men leave the conference room and return to their respective offices. Mike enters his space and closes the door and sits at his desk. He looks toward the door for a brief moment before removing a cell phone from his pocket. He opens the top and selects a contact from the list.

He types the message

"Ask for the menu for the sunrise restaurant"

He presses the send button, closes the burner phone and places it back into his pocket


	9. Chapter 9

You can check out anytime you like but you can never -

* * *

Ryan is sitting in the lounge area near the piano pretending to read a copy of the local newspaper. Esposito is in the main lobby close to the front door. Both are stationed near outside doors. If there is a need to open a door from the inside for the backup to enter, they are both ready.

Esposito has noticed that the man that left with his partners and who seems to be in charge came back up the elevator much earlier without either Beckett or Castle. So he can only assume they are being held below. A few minutes after he appeared another man came up the elevator and brought a box of items into that man's office. Esposito assumes that these are Castle and Beckett's personal items taken from them

The scheduled time to act is one hour after the entry of Castle and Beckett into the elevator. Both partners are looking at their watches every few minutes. Ryan and Esposito both assume that the duo is being held against their will since all evidence indicates just that.

Just before the allotted time Esposito's cell phone vibrates with a message. He takes it out of his pocket and read the screen and smiles.

Espo sends a text to Ryan "its working. They're circling their wagons"

Ryan looks up from his paper toward Javi and nods his head

After the allotted time, Esposito takes his cell phone out and sends the message to the U.S. Marshall Commander outside to stage his marshals in preparation for entry along with a contingent of FBI and local SWAT. If something goes wrong, it will be very bad for the people inside

The two New York officers get up from their chairs and step up to the desk. The clerk sees the two men walking up to the counter "Yes gentlemen, how can I help you?"

Esposito speaks up "I would like to see the menu for the Sunrise Restaurant"

The clerk has a funny look on his face "Excuse me while I get the manager" and he steps back thru the door to the office behind the desk. Moments later Larry Hudson appears from the rear office

"I am the manager Larry Hudson, how may I assist you?"

Esposito repeats "We want to see the menu for the Sunrise Restaurant"

"With obvious shock on his face, Larry Hudson stutters then says "I am sorry, are you sure you want the Sunrise Restaurant?"

"That is exactly what I said"

"Very well gentlemen. Follow me"

Hudson points to something on the desk. Ryan and Esposito both notice that seems to be some type of cue for the desk clerk to take some action after they leave. The three men walk down the hall to the elevator lobby. Hudson presses the up and down call buttons at the same time just like with Castle and Beckett. When the elevator doors open Hudson points to the cab and indicates for the two men to enter. This time his planned detention is interrupted by a gun in his back and a stern voice from Esposito

"We are agents of Homeland security and you are under arrest."

Ryan reaches under Hudson's jacket and removes his weapon. Esposito brings his cuffs out and restrains Hudson's wrists behind his back.

"I am the hotel manager. My name is Larry Hudson and I don't know what you are you doing? What is this all about?"

.

"You know full well what this is about. Where are our commander and her partner?"

He repeats weakly "I said I don't know what you are talking about"

"Look Hudson! We saw Homeland Commander Beckett and Agent Castle enter this elevator with you and they have not returned. So what did you do with them and where are they?"

"I said I don't have any idea what you are talking about"

Esposito is getting more irritated by the moment "how long will it be before the agents downstairs come up looking to see why you didn't bring us in the elevator? We saw you give the desk clerk a signal. So don't deny it"

"Gentlemen! I am totally at a loss as to what you are talking about"

Esposito pulls Hudson back toward the lobby. When they arrive back at the desk Hudson sees that his clerk has been detained by several men wearing vests. Some vest say FBI, some are DEA, several have US Marshall and two are being handed to Ryan and Esposito labeled Homeland Security.

Ryan sets Hudson down on a chair in the lobby. "Mr. Hudson. You are being detained under the Homeland Security act and depending on where this goes, you may be released to local police, federal marshals or we will keep you at Homeland Security with your final destination being a detention center much less comfortable surroundings than you find in this hotel.

The facility manager is trying to decide exactly how to handle these people. He knows his connections in the company will protect him from any veiled threats from these amateurs he is currently being troubled with.

He suddenly hears shouting from down the hall toward the elevators. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP GUNS DOWN" Then he hears several shots. Shouts of "Got him", "CLEAR"

Hudson looks up "You realize what kind of grief you are facing attacking a government installation? There will be back up on the way immediately now that they know we have been attacked"

Esposito answers. "You were not attacked. You detained a Homeland Security Incident Commander and her associate. Then you then interfered with a Homeland Security operation. And then you attempted to detain two field operatives. So you, my friend are the one facing prison."

They Ryan finishes the statement "Have you not paid attention. Look around. Who is it you think is coming to help you? We have FBI, US Marshals, DEA. Local SWAT and Homeland Security. You my friend are on the short end of this op"

One of the marshals walks up and both Ryan and Esposito step away from Hudson. The Marshall hands them a note. They both thank him then Esposito steps back to Hudson.

"It looks like we have our people that you kidnapped and the two additional ladies we came here for in the first place. You know if you just let Beckett and Castle have them, none of this would have happened and you and your family would still be able to see each other without the glass wall in between"

Hudson is looking up at the two men "You're serious. You can't keep me"

"You kept our partners. We are keeping you. Unless you want us to pick up your wife and you three kids and detain them as well. We can do that"

The elevator door rings and Castle, Beckett and two other women exit the car along with the guard who tried to fondle Beckett earlier.

Hudson looks their direction "I'm really screwed?"

"Afraid so" Ryan talks to a Marshall "take him to federal holding"

The Marshall does as he is directed.

Beckett hands the guard over to one of the Marshall's "Book this one for felony sexual contact." Beckett looks at him "you will forever be a registered sexual offender for what you did. Not to mention the bloody nose"

The two women who were being detained are being look at by the paramedics.

Beckett steps over to where Ryan and Esposito are waiting "Hey, Guys. Are we having fun yet?"

"Sure boss, if you call dealing with these people fun. Did you have any information from the women yet?"

"No. Andrea is comatose. We have got nothing from her. Angie is closer to OK, but they were trying to convince her she was me:" Kate answers

Castle continues "We are taking her back to New York and try to get whatever information she has"

The four watch as the women are loaded into ambulances.

Ryan looks at the chaos surrounding them. "Did we really just bust up the house on haunted hill?


	10. Chapter 10

The rescue operation at the hotel uncovered a facility that officially did not exist. A book of lies that had gone on for years.

The team led by Beckett, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito broke thru a web of deceit that began just after the iron curtain collapsed. The agents that had originally been brought there were long standing hard working men and women who simply had reached their limits. When it came to their ability to survive outside the world of clandestine operations, they were not able to cope. Back in the world of truth and not lies, they were incapable of incorporating themselves without help.

The agency tried several things to make it work for those who at one time had to live every day in a world not their own. A world where it they were discovered it meant certain death. Fast and sure termination as spies.

Agents returning from the field had to be debriefed and then reeducated. Brought back to a country that they had served to the best of their ability. Sometimes they were inserted back into the community. Many times they were not. Over the years this center had done a lot of good. But it appears that it is now only serving a few high up staff members who used it as a punishment center.

The two women rescued by the team are proof that this place has passed its peak and needs to be closed. Permanently!

Beckett's team gathered on the tarmac at the airport along with the commanders of the various federal and local law enforcement teams involved in this operation. Kate wished she could tell the men and women who helped in this rescue how important it was to recover these two, but national security prevented her being able to say more. She really hopes that some day they can all know just how important a job they performed, but that is for someone else to disclose at the proper time.

Beckett steps out front of the group "My I have your attention! I want to personally thank every single one involved in this operation. Without all of you, this would not have been the success it is. I cannot say more, but you can rest assured that what you did may have saved countless lives. So on behalf of my entire team "pointing to the three men standing with her "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You"

Kate turns toward the plane and the four get on board. After they have buckled in Kate turns and looks out the window. She watches the ground pass as they taxi out to the main runway for take off. No words are said by anyone in the group until they are airborne

Castle reaches over to his wife and puts his arm around her.

"Kate, what's wrong? We got them out. They are both safe."

"I know. It's just so hard to imagine what they went through and that they were treated like they were because Bracken thought one of them was me." She pauses in thought "And they actually are my sisters or at least my half sisters. We are flesh and blood"

"Kate, they are getting excellent treatment by real doctors. In fact Angie may already be in New York as we speak. The doctors say that as soon as the drugs get out of her system, she will probably be ok and can help us with the drug case"

"I know. I just need to decompress myself a little" then looking up to Castle "And I just need to feel you hold me for a little while"

She leans toward him and then she puts her head on his shoulder. Tears start to flow.

Castle gives her a gentle squeeze then turns his head to place his cheek against her hair. They find the whine of the jet engines relaxing and within minutes of take off, all four of the team have gone to sleep. They are all getting much needed sleep.

The team is awakened when the wheels bounce on the runway at LaGuardia. The plane taxis away from the main terminal to a private hanger where they see Fallon and Lanie along with a half dozen other officers waiting for the plane to reach them. When the Gulf Stream comes to a complete stop the awaiting ground crew step in and open the door and lower the stairway to allow the team to exit.

Agent Fallon is first to reach the group "Congratulations are in order. That was a well executed plan. I will admit- I was afraid we might loose all of you to that group, but everything went like clockwork."

"Thank you Agent Fallon" Beckett responds. "We have to give thanks to our insider. Without him, we might have not been so successful. Have you heard from him by the way? We haven't"

"No, we are assuming he is currently involved with his coworkers doing damage control. I am sure that there are all types of things happening inside their offices"

"I am sure of that. Have you heard anymore on our agent? Is she going to be ok?"

"The doctors say she is awake and sitting up. She was really confused about where she is and how she got here. I will take you to see her"

"Great! Lanie, can you take the boys back to the EOC? Castle and I will visit with our witness and see if we can get some information about who has planned this attack and where"

"OK Kate. And by the way. It is great to see both of you back and safe"

Lanie, Ryan and Esposito get into one SUV that is waiting while Beckett and Castle get in with Fallon. Both vehicles leave the airport and go different directions.

Just moments after they pull out Castle's cell phone chimes with a message "All hell broke loose here" Castle laughs and shows the message to Kate and Fallon

"I guess they were not very happy that we shut them down?" Beckett states

"Guess not" Rick responds

They arrive shortly at the hospital where Angie was taken. The three agents travel up to floor 4, the isolation unit, where security is much tighter than the rest of the building. Upon arrival they immediately arrive at a desk with a uniformed NYPD officer. He recognizes Beckett and Castle "Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle welcome. Let me get the doctor for you" The officer calls and advises the doctor that the three agents have arrived.

"Yes, doctor. I will let them know." The officer tells the three that they need to go into the office next to them and the doctor will met them there. He needs to talk about some of the patient's issues.

Castle and Fallon have entered the office thru the doorway when another hallway door opens and someone rushes out almost running over Beckett

And is it none other than Doctor Josh Davidson. There is a moment of chilled silence as Kate and Josh come face to face with each other.

"Kate! Hello. What are you doing here?"

"I'm Working Josh. OH I'm sorry, Dr. Davidson. At the hospital I should call you Dr. Davidson"

"No, Kate, Josh is just fine. How are you? I have not seen you since…"

There is a long pause while Kate's mind flashes over the last time she actually saw Josh and the words said and the emotions expressed by him and by her

"It was shortly after I was shot. The last time I saw you, I was flat on my back in a hospital bed recovering from my shooting"

During the course of the conversation, Kate has involuntary placed her left hand to her cheek and in doing so, her wedding ring is evident. Dr. Davidson notices the small gold band. It makes it obvious to him she is now married and by the simplicity of the ring, he is assuming married to someone of much lesser means than he could have provided her and certainly NOT Richard Castle.

"Listen Kate, I have to run, I have a patient in distress so I must go. But let me take you to dinner some time and catch up on how things are going. But I do have to run right now. I'll call you" And Josh runs on down the hall before Kate can even respond to his invitation.

Beckett shakes her head and walks into the office where Castle and Fallon are standing having watched this little show.

"Wow! He never gives up does he?" Rick comments

"Nothing to worry about blue eyes. I'm yours. End of discussion"

Castle smiles at her as the inner door to the office opens and a tall older doctor enters the room "Hello I'm Doctor Sydney Evans. I am head of psychiatry here"

"Doctor Evans, I am Agent Mark Fallon with Homeland Security and this is Acting Agent Richard Castle and Incident Commander Kate Beckett"

"Did you say Kate Beckett?"

Beckett answers "That is correct. Why?"

"This woman has been fighting something about the name. She keeps repeating over and over 'I am not Kate Beckett'. It seems that name has some special meaning for her"

"Doctor. We believe that the people holding her thought that she was me and were trying to convince her that she was me. It is a long story, but basically she was kidnapped because she looked like me. When she denied it, they drugged her"

"Well, the good news is that once the drugs are out of her system, she should be fine"

"How long do you think this may take? We are on a short fuse and she has some answers we need."

"I think she may be coming out any moment."

"Can we see her?" Fallon asks

"Yes. But do not tell her your name. The Beckett name may cause her to retreat inside again and delay her recovery."

"Not a problem doctor. My married name is Castle and I can use that"

"All right. But please be gentle with her. She is still fragile. Also, Ms Beckett uh…Castle. Are you aware you look a lot like this woman?"

"Yes doctor. I am afraid that is the reason she was taken. She is my biological sister. But I never met her before today"


	11. Chapter 11

ANGIE

* * *

Castle and Beckett enter the room where Angie is resting. She looks up to the pair as they enter. She initially has a calm appearance on her face. Then fear appears on in her eyes. The fear is then replaced by a look full of questions. Them a smile moves on her lips.

"Who are you? She asks in an almost childlike manor

"My name is Mrs. Castle. Mrs. Richard Castle, but you can call me Johanna" Kate has decided that asking the girl to call her Houghton sounded a bit odd.

"Hello Johanna, my name is Kat…no wait" Her look becomes blank

It appears that the drugs may not have not completely worn off. She is still showing signs of trauma

"My name is Angie". She finally answers "Its Angie…I don't remember my last name"

"That's OK Angie. It is very nice to meet you. How old are you, Angie?

"I'm…thirty…Thirty-three. UH three. That's right thirty-three"

"Do you know where you are Angie?"

"Yes I am in Boston. I live in Boston"

"Angie, you are not in Boston right now. You are in New York. We brought you to New York to get you some medical care. Do you remember where you were before? Before we brought you here?

Another questioning look appears on her face again. Then it is replaced by one of terror. Pure unadulterated terror! She starts to pull back in her bed

Then Castle speaks softly to her "Angie, its OK. You are safe here. No one is going to hurt you here. We are not going to let anyone hurt you. OK?"

Angie looks up toward Castle. He has used a deep but gentle voice that he always used to sooth Alexis when she was scared. When she saw monsters under her bed. He had become very good in convincing her there were no monsters It appears that the gentle Castle has calmed her down.

Kate touches Angie's shoulder gently. "Angie, we will let you rest for a little while. Then is it ok if we come back in and talk some more?"

"Yes Johanna, I would kike that."

Castle and Beckett return to the hallway and the doctor treating her.

Castle speaks first "Doctor, she seems truly scared. Did they harm her in some way?"

"Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett, I think they drugged her then spent hours trying to debrief her thinking she was you "looking at Kate" But all this did was to serve to mess up her brain. And from what I see, they messed it up pretty bad."

Beckett looks into the observation window "Doctor, we have a situation that she may have the answer to caught up inside her head. It is imperative we get it from her soon. The problem is we don't know how soon. Today may be too late or we have weeks. We just don't know"

"I understand. This facility is a trauma center and we have been advised that we may be needed. I am cleared level 3 so I have been briefed on the situation"

The trio looks at the woman thru the glass for a moment.

"I will keep an eye on her so let me call you when she can be interviewed again. In the mean time, if I hear something from her, I will document it and pass it on"

"Very well doctor. Is there anything else we can do to help her in this journey of getting better?"

"Actually, Mrs. Castle, there is. If we could get some of her clothes and so she could put them on instead of the normal hospital gowns, she might begin feeling more normal. This could help in her healing process. Can someone go to her place and get clothes for her?"

"At this moment we do not have her address. We do have someone trying to find that. What if I got her some of my clothes? She appears to be my size."

"That might work. Can you arrange that?"

"Yes I will do that as soon as possible. Thank you doctor. We will talk later"

Castle and Beckett exit the ward and get on the elevator

"Rick, will you go back to my apartment. There are some clothes there that I can give her."

"I can do that. What do you want me to get?"

"Call me when you get there and I will have you look in my closet. I can tell you then what you to bring her"

"You got it"

When they exit the elevator Beckett heads over to rejoins her escort driver that has been waiting at the front door. An NYPD cruiser has pulled up to the SUV to demand he move his vehicle from the loading zone. But the SUV driver is talking to the uniformed officer showing his credentials when she approaches the pair.

"Officer"

The officer jumps when he sees her. The other precincts have been briefed that there is an incident open and who she is, but this officer never expecting to be approached by anyone from the task force, let alone the incident commander.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Officer, I need you to take Mr. Castle here to an address, wait for him then bring him back here. You will follow his orders until he releases you."

"Yes, ma'am. Let me notify my sergeant"

"Go ahead" Beckett tells the uniform then she turn back to Castle

The officer gets into his cruiser and takes the radio and starts giving his command the information that he is being pulled from patrol and by whom

"Rick, after you bring Angie some clothes check with the doctors and make sure that she is ok before you come back to the EOC"

"Got it." Rick responds. Then he looks deep into her eyes "Kate I was hoping to spend our first few weeks as a married couple doing anything but this"

Looking back at him "I know"

They both have stopped moving and are fixed on each others eyes. They have briefly returned to their former selves.

Their Eye Sex is interrupted by the officer telling them that his command has been advised that he is on special assignment and that he is ready to go. In spite of the PDA rules, Rick gives Kate a very brief kiss before stepping into the squad car.

Castle gives the officer the address of Kate's apartment. After they pull away from the curb it becomes obvious to Castle that the officer is dying to find out about what is happening.

"Mr. Castle" the officer starts "I have read a lot of your books. The Storm series is very good. But I must say the Nikki Heat. Well that group of books is great"

"Thank you. I am glad you like them. How about after this is over, I autograph them for you?"

"That would be fantastic. Uh! Are the stories really about Detective Beckett?"

Rick know what the officer is really asking but he is not about to go there "Well, I followed her around for several months while making notes about cases. Then I based the stories on a combination of cases. No one case is told. Just a note from here, a suspect from there a crime scene from somewhere else"

"OH, so the relationship between Rook and Nikki is not…?"

"No. None of that happened"

They cruiser pulls up in front of Beckett's apartment building and Rick tells the officer he will be back out in just a few minutes

Once inside Rick opens Kate's closet. The closet where she keeps the clothes that are not in her current wardrobe. One of Kate's habits that Rick finds fun is how she rotates clothes from her active closet to the inactive closet. He decides a phone call is best. He takes out his cell and calls

"Hey Castle, Are you there?"

"I'm in front of your inactive closet"

"Perfect. Look on the right side. You will find a yellow sweater…" She then tells him about another couple of items to pack

"Got it"

"Left side there are pants" She describes the pair she wants him to pack Beckett continues to list items for Rick to pack including some underwear, socks and footwear then some cosmetics

What Kate has not told Rick is the clothes she told him to load were presents given to her by Josh while they were dating. She has no desire to wear them ever again and she has decided that this is a good way to get rid them but at the same time do someone else some good.

Castle takes a gym bag from the closet, loads all the items and heads back to the street

When Castle arrives back at the hospital, he tells the officer to wait and he will need a ride to the 12th.

Castle goes beck inside and to the floor where Angie is staying. When he arrives at her room, he sees her sitting on her bed reading a book. He knocks gently

"Hello Angie" Castle speaks up

"Mr. Castle. Hello"

"All my friends call me Rick. I brought you some clothes. Ka... UH Johanna and I thought you might like some real clothes instead of what hospital gave you"

"Thank you Rick, that is so nice."

"Listen Angie, I need to go back to work. But my wife and I will definitely be back to see you later, OK?"

"Great! Thank you"

Castle leaves Angie's room and returns to the patrol car waiting to take him back to the station.

Angie opens the bag and looks at the beautiful clothes that he just gave her. She gets out of the bed and runs into the bathroom and jumps into the shower. When she comes back out she begins to get dressed. When she finishes getting dressed, she looks at her reflection in the mirror. Just the feel of real clothes and having her hair clean and brushed and a little makeup makes her feel alive again.

A feeling she has not felt in several weeks.

But there is someone already inside the hospital who will crash all of her happy emotions


	12. Chapter 12

When Castle arrives back at the EOC the news reporters are all still present out front. They are just hoping to stop someone with information and try to get a scoop for the eleven o'clock news. The officer driving Castle pulls the cruiser into the basement garage to avoid the media. Castle thanks the officer and reminds him to bring his books to the station and he will gladly autograph them.

When he exits the elevator on the fourth floor, Rick goes looking to find his wife. He finds her in the large conference room with the mayor and the police and fire command staff, giving them the latest information she has. Unfortunately they have not made much progress on the target of the attack or to even verify that there is a credible threat to the city.

Rick steps over to Kate's desk and places his jacket on his usual chair to wait for her to finish with the briefing. He hears the door of the conference room open as the group leaves the room.

The mayor sees Castle and walks over "Hey Rickey, how's it going?"

"Well, Bob, it has been better. Pretty stressful right now, but I know we will find the answers and get the city back to normal"

"I trust you and that lovely lady you married to get this done."

"Thanks Bob. I just wish this were one of my books and I could just rewrite what is happening"

"Well, Rickey, I know it will all work out with you on the case. Oh by the way I understand you and Kate will be having a formal wedding in a couple of weeks. I will most certainly be there."

"Thanks Bob"

"Back to work for all of us now" As the mayor walks to the elevator

Beckett enters the bull pin area "Rick, did you get Angie taken care of?"

"OH Yes, she was very happy to see the clothes. I think she went straight into the bathroom and started getting cleaned up and dressed. She had a giant smile on her face. I think she's going to be fine now that the people who caused this are behind bars"

Rick is looking at what is normally the murder board. This time it is an incident board. They are placing all the information they have onto the board to try to make some sense about it.

"Kate, do we know if any of the people from the hotel have knowledge about the threat?"

Beckett pauses while she thinks "I don't know. We can question them and see if anything shakes out. It is possible Angie may have said something to one of them or given some clue. Let's go to the Federal building and question them"

Esposito walks up "Boss, we just got a partial on the van that was spotted on the video leaving the docks. It was a New Mexico tag. We are trying to narrow it down right now"

Beckett turns to Esposito "New Mexico plates on a van that was shipped from Texas to New York? It sound like this involves a lot of people."

"Yeah! But without the who or a why where do we start?"

"Javi, Rick and I are going to the Federal Building to question the prisoners from the hotel to see if the women gave them any intel we can use. Then we are going back to the hospital to see if Angie is clear headed enough to help us you are in command here until I get back."

"Got it boss"

Beckett and Castle head out to the elevator.

When they arrive at the Federal building they see the media outside trying to find out more about what is happening. The TV reporters have decided that this is not just a drill and there is some real threat that the police are covering up

The doors to the building are secured and the guard asks for ID from the couple. After verifying the pair, they are granted entrance. Beckett asks the guard where the command post is set up and they are directed to a large training room that has been modified to become an EOC.

Beckett and Castle check in with the FBI commander Special Agent Maria Villarreal and tell her that they want to interview the prisoners brought in from the Delaware facility.

"Certainly Commander Beckett. Do you want an FBI agent present?"

"No that will not be necessary. Mr. Castle will be adequate"

Agent Villarreal makes a call and tells someone what they need. She hangs up then turns to Beckett. "Please follow me to the interview room "

The trio walks down the hall thru a secure set of doors then into an interview room not much different that the one Beckett spends so much time in at the 12th.

Her and Castle sit down at the table and wait for the prisoner to be brought in. The first man is the guard from the hotel who made the mistake of attempting to search Beckett. He is brought in, and shackled to the table and the detention officer leaves the room.

"Mr. Kirkland. How are the accommodations here? I trust a bit better than you were offering me and Mr. Castle earlier?"

Gordon Kirkland sits in his chair glaring directly at Beckett

"You know not talking is going to do you no good. In fact at this time you might consider spilling everything you know about the little illegal operation you were involved with"

Still he says nothing

"You do realize that you detained two field operatives with homeland security and also Mr. Castle and me against our will. Oh yes. Let's not forget the little illegal sexual contact against me. You are going away for a very long time"

He finally speaks up "You two have no idea what is going to rain down on your heads"

Castle looks directly into his eyes "YOU sir have no idea what is happening here. We are the ones who put Senator Bracken away so dealing with you and your little group downtown inside Lexington Towers is a walk in the park" Castle looks at his watch "in fact your group has already been shut down as of about fifteen minutes ago. So, your only chance of ever seeing sunlight again lies in what you do today to help yourself. So what will it be? Gitmo or minimum security in Georgia?"

"How do you know about the tower? That is highly classified"

"OH! Our clearance goes way above you" Beckett answers

Kirkland sits quietly again "I want immunity to all charges"

"If your information proves to be accurate, then we will recommend the US attorney take that into consideration. However, the sexual contact issue will be up to my husband"

"You don't have to tell him about it. You can make it go away"

Castle glares at Kirkland again "I am the husband."

The prisoner takes a deep breath "We were told that these women had been deep undercover and were having trouble coming back to reality. We gave them the normal cycle of drugs that usually brings them back. But one of them, the one who called herself Richardson immediately went into a coma and we could not get her back. The second one that we were told was Kate Beckett fought the name issue. She insisted her name was not Beckett but was Angie Cooper. Now that I have seen you in person, you look almost exactly like the other two, like you could be sisters"

"I am the one and only Kate Beckett and we are sisters"

"OH CRAP!"

"What else did she say?"

"She kept talking about some drugs and plague and how we were all going to die if she didn't get out"

"Guess what Gordon! She was telling the truth and if we had not gotten her out of your hands, this plague might just happen"

* * *

Doctor Josh Davidson is sitting in the cafeteria of the hospital contemplating the events of earlier. His chance running into his old love. He really felt like he and Kate could have had a life together, but she seemed determined to take a different path than the one he could have given to her. She had told him that she "really, really liked him" but then she said it wasn't enough. What wasn't enough? Liking him or the fact that he was always gone and never being there for her? Thinking back to that day she told him it was over, he couldn't be sure if they split because of his always being gone or she was in love with Richard Castle?

When he saw her today, there was no Castle. In fact, she appeared to be alone. In the past Castle was always around getting in the way. Nosing into Kate's personal life. Going places that was reserved for romantic relationships. Not some tag-a-long writer

Another doctor, Timothy Hernandez sits down next to Josh "Josh, you look like you have something on your mind?"

"I just ran into my old girlfriend upstairs at the isolation unit. Boy she was looking good"

"OH Really? A chance encounter? Are you going to try to reconcile with her?"

"Well, she did have on a wedding ring"

"Uh OH! Off limits!"

"I hate to be this way, but I never really got over her. The ring she is wearing a very inexpensive plain band so I figure she must have married someone of low financial means. Really, I can afford to give her so much more than that. Obviously I can do way more than the cheapskate she is married to."

"Hey doc tread lightly now. You could find yourself on the bad end of something if you mess with some other man's lady"

"Oh how good can the guy be? He gives her a $100.00 wedding ring to wear. Even that writer guy that hung around her um, Castle somebody? He had a lot more money than whoever she is married to"

"Listen Josh you be very careful in whatever you are planning"

"Don't worry Tim. I think I will go back up to isolation and see if she is still there" Doctor Davidson gets up and heads for the elevator

When he gets off on the 4th floor, he passes thru the secure access points until he arrives in the waiting area. He looks around and immediately recognizes the woman sitting at a table evidently reading a book. She is wearing the blouse that he gave to her just a month before she was shot. He was kind of partial to this blouse. It brought out her figure much to his liking.

WOW she still looks good in those clothes. He quietly steps up to her and sits down at the table across from her. After a brief moment she looks up to Josh "Hello how are you" Angie asks

"Hello Kate. I just wanted to talk to you."

Total and complete terror appears in Angie's face. She starts breathing fast the first words out of her mouth are "MY NAME IS NOT KATE"

"Yes, Kate" Josh says "You are Kate Beckett and we used to date briefly. I was your boyfriend"

Angie pulls back almost falling out of the chair "I AM NOT KATE BECKETT" she screams

"Kate, what is wrong? Why are you screaming? It's just me, Josh"

"I don't know a Josh. My name is not Kate…my name is… What is my name? I am…Someone help me"

Doctor Sydney Evans appears from the hallway "What is going on in e?" he speaks quite loudly

Josh answers "I was just talking to Kate Beckett here and she reacted" pointing at Angie

"This is NOT Kate Beckett. And who are you anyway?"

"I am Kate's ex boyfriend. I am Doctor Josh Davidson"

"Well Doctor Davidson you have just undone all of our work trying to get her help. She was brainwashed into believing she was Kate Beckett. She is not"

Angie has now regressed back to where she was when she arrived at the hospital.


	13. Chapter 13

Castle and Beckett are walking out thru the lobby of the federal building when Kate's cell phone rings. Caller ID says Ryan "Hey Ryan what's up?"

There is a long pause and Beckett gets an angry look on her face "He did WHAT? Castle and I are on our way" Beckett hangs up from the call "I can't believe he did that!"

"Did what? Who did something?" Rick asks

"Josh! Josh Davidson saw Angie in the waiting room at the hospital wearing the clothes you gave her. He thought it was me and he sat down and started talking to her like it was talking to me"

"He was hitting on her thinking he was hitting on you?" Castle's anger is obvious. He is furious. "Let's go Kate" as he turns toward the exit to the garage

"Slow down big guy. We have to remain objective here. I need to deal with this issue"

"OH! I will deal with him alright"

Kate stops Rick in the stairway "Rick, I need you to calm down. He is not in any way a part of my life. You are. We need you to keep this on a professional level. OK?"

Castle is fighting every emotion in his system just thinking that doctor motorcycle boy thought he was going to reconnect with Kate. Rick calms down then smiles to his girl

"OK. I'm good. I promise I will not take him out side and …"

"Do not finish that sentence." Kate puts her arms around Rick.

"All right" Rick takes a deep breath. "Do you know what happened?"

"They said he kept calling her Kate Beckett and she freaked out, totally. The doctors are afraid that she has regressed beck to where she was at the hotel"

"That is not good. Can we do anything to help her?"

"I don't know. We will go there and see"

Beckett and Castle get into her cruiser and she runs red lights and siren to get to the hospital as fast as she can. When the pair arrives, she parks in the police lot and they both run inside. When they get off the elevator on the 4th floor, she sees Doctor Evans at the nurse's station. When he sees the couple, Doctor Evans points toward the lounge and the three walk that direction.

Outside the lounge door is a uniformed officer. Doctor Evans stops at the door "I am holding Doctor Davidson in here. He claims he knows you "looking at Beckett "and he thought that he was talking to you and not Angie. But that is not helping right now. She has pulled back into her shell and is not talking"

Beckett is looking thru the window and sees Josh sitting at the table staring off into the distance. She looks at Castle "Rick! I need you to wait here and let me deal with this. OK?"

"Kate I…"

"Stop it, Rick. I think it best if you not go in there. You can watch from here."

"But Kate"

"No buts. You wait here" She puts her arms around his waist. "I love you and no one else. Got it?"

"Got it"

Beckett turns and enters the lounge and closes the door. Josh looks up and sees Kate enter. He jumps up and runs toward her. It is obvious that he plans on a hug, kiss or some form of affection. She puts her hand out and stops him

"What the hell were you thinking, Josh? You are currently in very serious trouble. Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"Kate, I thought she was you and I just wanted to talk to you. When we broke up, you told me that you really liked me so I just wanted to try and reconnect. That's all"

Holding up her ring finger for him to see "You and I have been over for almost two years. Josh I am married now."

"I know Kate, I saw the ring earlier, but since it was just a simple small gold band I knew whoever you married could not give you what I afford to do for you"

Kate has become angry at his arrogance "Josh. I am married to Richard Castle. So if I wanted the Hope Diamond, he would have given it to me. So what I choose to wear as a wedding ring is my business"

Joshua Davidson is sitting in shocked silence, then "Kate. I am sorry, I didn't know. You really married the guy who opened old wounds and almost got you killed?"

That comment angers her even more

"Josh. When I said I really liked you, I also said that it wasn't enough. Rick gives himself to me and all the other things that make it enough. But right now I have a more important decision to make concerning you. I can have you arrested and taken to jail or release you with the understanding that, one you never mention what is happening here as this involves national security and two. And this is the most important part. You never ever attempt to contact me again. Understood?"

"So now he has you involved in one of his wild spy stories?"

"Josh. I think you just need to drop this whole conversation. OK?"

Josh has a look of understanding. "I will never darken your doorway again Kate"

"Good choice, Josh. Now leave here and never mention what you have seen or heard or I will have to have you arrested"

He gets up from the table and walks out into the hallway where he comes face to face with Richard Castle. Davidson has a look on his face that he wants to say something but chooses not to. He walks quickly down the hall and gets on the elevator

Castle and Doctor Evans enter the lounge. Doctor Evans speaks first "So Doctor Davidson really did know you?"

"Yeah, he did. But that was along time ago.

"I guess he never got over the rejection?"

"Evidently not. So Doctor Evans, where do we go from here?"

"She has pulled back into her shell. She will not talk to anyone."

Castle looks to the doctor "Let me try. I was able to calm her down earlier. Maybe I can do it again"

"Mr. Castle. I am open to anything right now. But please, please be careful. She is more fragile than before"

"I will" Rick turn to Kate, "I guess giving her some of your old clothes didn't help much did it?"

Richard Castle walks down the hall to Angie's room and knocks on the door. The staff nurse who is sitting with her opens the door. Castle tells her he needs to talk to Angie and for her to wait in the hall. The nurse goes out to the corridor, but they leave the door open. Castle pulls a chair up next to the bed and he sits down.

"Angie, its Rick. Can you hear me?"

She is unmoving and staring off into the distance.

"Angie? Is' Richard Castle. Do you remember me? My wife and I brought you some clothes?"

Castle is again using his deep comforting voice. He is hoping it will reach her. He notices a brief smile turn up on the corners of her lips.

"Angie? Do you remember Johanna and me coming to see you earlier?"

A slightly bigger smile appears.

"I promised you that no one will hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you. Johanna and I will make sure that no one will ever hurt you ever again"

Her eyes are fixed on the opposite wall of her room. "Rick?" a very weak voice responds

"Yes Angie, its Rick and Johanna is here too. Do you want me to bring her in?"

"Yes, please" again in a very weak response

Castle gets up and goes into the hall and gets Kate

"Hi Angie, its Johanna. Can you hear me?"

"Am I really Angie? Is that my name?"

Kate smiles at Rick "Yes Angie. That is really your name"

"I am not Kate? Kate Beck…" her voice trails off

"No Angie. You are not Kate Beckett. Your name is Angie Cooper"

Her eyes shift from the wall toward Rick and Kate and she finally smiles

"Thank you"

Castle speaks first "Angie. We need you to get better. You are a very important person today. So we will let you rest for a little while then we can come back. Is that OK?"

Her face lights up "I am important?"

"You are very important. So we will go now and come back later. OK?" Kate comments

"OK I will be here. Thank you"

Castle and Beckett exit her room and as they approach Doctor Evans Kate speaks "doctor, do you think she can be recover sufficiently to help later today or tomorrow?"

"I would wait until tomorrow morning. We will keep an eye on her until then. And definitely not let a love sick doctor get near her"

"That would be good" Castle comments as he and Beckett walk to the elevator


	14. Chapter 14

Michael Smith sits in the lobby waiting to see his old friend and former co-worker. The receptionist hangs up her telephone and looks over the desk "Mr. Smith? He will see you now. Do you know the way?"

"Yes, thank you I've been here many times" as Smith gets up and passes thru the inside door to a long hallway beyond. At the far end of the corridor the office opens and his old friend comes out to greet him.

"Mike, good to se you"

"Same here" Smith responds

"Come in and have a seat" Alexander Richardson responds as he points toward a chair across from his desk "How are things at Lexington? I hear there has been quite a bit of action there today"

"That would be an understatement. When the U.S. Marshall's showed up it all hit the fan. People were running up and down the corridors trying to shred documents, but the agents

were too fast and stopped most of the document destruction. Have you heard from the others? How are Angie and Andrea?"

He looks down at his desk when he answers "They are both in the hospital. Angie is doing pretty well but Andrea is still in a coma"

"I am so sorry. What happened? We thought that by getting them out, they would be OK?"

"Evidently there is more going on with my daughter than just the deprogramming. They said she went into a coma the minute the drugs were administered."

Smith sits for just a moment "Alex, this is the chance we all take being in the business of secrets"

Richardson looks up from his desk "I am tired of secrets. I want my daughter to recover and live her life with no more secrets"

Smith stands up to leave "Alex! I think I know someone who might help here. I will contact him and see if we can get her some much needed help."

"Who are we talking about?"

"You know him. We had dealings with him when we were both in the company. He was your counterpart on the other side".

"Are you talking about…?"

Smith just looks across the desk to Richardson "Yes"

* * *

Castle and Beckett are finishing their day back at the station. Castle is sitting on the edge of Kate's desk looking at the incident board wondering what they have missed. Naturally, his mind is looking for something totally unexpected when Esposito walks up

"Hey Castle, we finally found Angie's place over in New Jersey"

"That's great Javi"

Kate walks up holding two cups of coffee. She hands one to Rick and starts listening

"Only problem it's clean. There is nothing out of place. It looks like she only lives there occasionally. She's not been there in a long time, maybe months"

"Did she have a boyfriend?"

"Not that we can tell and there were no men's clothes or toiletries found in her apartment"

"Ok She's been out of town for a while. But where?

Ryan steps up "I may have the answer to that. You remember the problem with your DNA at a crime scene?" Looking at Beckett "it was found in Laredo Texas at a motel on Interstate 35"

Castle looks at Beckett "So Kate is there something you need to share with me?"

"Very funny writer boy. Kevin, they said it was a crime scene"

"Actually there was no crime found, just evidence of a crime. There was blood in the room and a broken table lamp made out of stone. The blood has been identified as belonging to our dead drug agent in the container. This is probably our primary crime scene for his murder"

Castle starts up with his theory "OK. Angie is in Laredo with Charlie Jackson sharing a motel. He gets killed and put into a container with the drugs. Ends up on the docks in New York. Where was Angie?"

"We are not sure. She will have to answer that question"

"Do the police have any suspects?"

"Nothing definite right now. But down near the Mexico border there are several groups that might have something to do with this. The Mexican Mafia. The Columbian Drug Cartels, The Mexican Drug Cartels and there is a new group mentioned in the report" Ryan reads over his notes " There are comments about a separatist group operating in the area calling themselves "The New Revolution"

"So we now know Angie was working with DEA agent Charlie Jackson."

"And maybe sleeping with him"

"Agent Jackson is killed in the motel and dumped in the container and shipped here with the drugs"

"Angie has some form of evidence. Leaves the area probably by car to avoid the airport and returns to the city to bring information to her bosses"

"But before she can report to her bosses what is happening she gets taken by Bracken's henchmen"

Castle continues "The container is delivered to the docks and the contents picked up by someone from here and then taken away."

"But who took it and to where?"

"I'm coming up blank right now. Kate. Let's you and I call it a day and start again fresh in the morning"

"Sounds good to me. I am tired and can't think" as she grabs her coat and they head out

Ryan and Esposito have been watching these two conduct their personal form of foreplay by bantering theory between themselves for years.

Esposito comments "I am glad they decided to leave before one them jumped the other right here at the precinct"

"Yeah me Too" Ryan answers as the two detectives head over to the stairs

* * *

On their way home to the loft, the pair stop for Chinese take out. Castle calls to see if he needs to get his mother and daughter anything. They have both already eaten. Now armed with egg rolls. Kung Po Beef .and Tomato Chicken, Rick and Kate head straight to the diner table and dig in. They both have just realized that with the events of the day, neither one has eaten anything so what originally appeared to be a giant meal suitable for leftovers has suddenly became nothing but empty boxes.

They are both now sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in one hand and the case files in their laps. Rick also has his laptop and is intently reading something he just looked up about "The New Revolution".

Kate stops reading her file for a moment and takes a sip from her glass. She looks over to Rick and smiles to herself. She thinks of all the times in her past when she would bring case files home to read over like they are doing now. She normally did it alone but even when she was dating someone, she might as well have been alone. The other guys didn't care about her job. But this man really does. Oh, how he cares about what is important to her and how much he shows it to her. Everyday!

Here comes that warm feeling inside her again.

Rick looks over to Kate "You're tired. Are you ready for bed?" Castle asks as he gets up from the couch, placing his computer on the side table

"Yeah I am" She answers as Rick takes her hand and brings her up to her feet. He gently pulls her to their bedroom where he turns down the comforter. She gets under the covers next to what she has accepted as his side of the bed and within a few seconds she is sound asleep.

Castle slips in next to his wife and lays there watching her sleep. At least she doesn't know that he is doing this and therefore can't tell him what he is doing is creepy.

Creepy or not, he loves being able to finally do this with her


	15. Chapter 15

The morning sun is breaking thru the windows of their loft announcing that it is a new day and it's time to get up. Kate reaches toward Rick's side of the bed, but he is not there. She sits up and stretches her arms way over her head. Doing that feels really great. She is completely rested this morning. Looking at the clock she sees that he has let her sleep past the normal time she would be up.

Jumping out of bed she heads to the kitchen where the smell of morning breakfast is in the air. When Castle sees his beautiful bride he reaches out with a cup of her morning kiss from him

"Hey babe"

"Hey yourself! You let me sleep late. Wait a minute, did you just call me Babe?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Since when am I BABE?"

"Since right now. Is that OK?"

"No I actually hate that name. Maybe just this one time because you did let me sleep late"

"Not so much late" looking at the clock "Only 30 minutes. I know that little bit helps me. I figured it will help you too. And OK no Babe"

Smiling, Kate takes the cup from his hand and then rises up on her tip toes and gives him a warm good morning kiss. He returns the kiss with all the passion that either one of them can stand right now. They both would prefer to be doing other things, but they know they have to get back to saving the city

Kate sits down at the bar and Castle serves up the morning fare. Kate actually eats very slowly.

"What are you thinking?" Castle asks

"What is our next step? What do we need to do now?"

Castle sets his lap top on the counter opens the lid "I have been researching this separatists group and have found some interesting stuff about them." He is pointing to some pages on the screen "According to their web site, they believe that the IRS is an illegal taxing entity. The National Guard is not the militia that the founders were referring to. We should all have major weapons stashed at our homes for protection and that we should all be prepared for the revolution to overthrow the current illegal group in Washington running the country"

"Wow! So they are against the current occupant of the White House?"

"Actually, they were opposed to the last four occupants. They claim the method of voting for president is wrong and their candidate actually won the last time, but the major political parties swayed the electoral votes their way."

"Rick, that sounds a little crazy"

"It sounds a lot crazy to me. But it also sounds like an explanation for who might be trying to spread a plague throughout the country"

"Rick, let's get dressed and head in and see if this theory of yours fits what's happening"

After getting dressed Castle and Beckett head to the station. Before they can get half way, Beckett gets a call from the doctor treating Angie

"Beckett, Hello doctor. How is Angie? She is? That's great. OK we will head your way then. Bye" She hangs up the call

"The doctor said that the drugs have finally left Angie's system and she seems to be back to normal. I told the doctor we are heading there now. Why don't you let Ryan and Esposito know about what you found and have them to follow up on that info?"

Castle takes his cell phone out and dials the station number. He gets Esposito and tells him about his theory on the group. Esposito takes notes and tells Castle that he will call back when he has some information. Esposito tells Castle that Ryan has new information on the van that came out of the container. They have a partial plate, but there are none stolen reported with that partial tag. But tech was able to get a better image from the side panel of the truck. It appears to say something "Filter Service"

Castle and Beckett arrive back at the hospital and head back up to the 4th floor. When they exit the elevator and walk to the lounge area, they see Angie sitting at the table talking and laughing with one of the staff. When Angie sees Castle and Beckett she gets up and walks toward them

"Rick, Kate. Great to see you" She reaches out and gives Castle a hug then turns to Kate and gives her one as well "Kate, I hope you won't mind if I give your husband a hug do you? You have both been such help in getting me over what happened"

Castle and Beckett look at one another with questions on their faces.

Kate speaks first "Angie. You know who I am?"

"Of course I know who you are. You are Detective Kate Beckett of the New York Police Department and this good looking man is your husband Richard Castle" Angie smiles at Kate then says "Of course if I could convince him I was Kate Beckett, maybe he would take me home and you can stay here and eat this hospital food"

Beckett looks at Castle "Do I need to show my tattoo to you to make sure you know exactly who you are to take home?"

"Not here! But when we get home you can show me again"

"So Angie, you are obviously feeling better?"

"Much better thank you and I really do mean Thank You. Thank You both for getting me and Andrea out of that hell hole we were in. How did we get there anyway?"

"It's a long story, but the short version is that Senator Bracken thought you were me and he needed me out of commission. So he took you and Andrea and locked you up"

"Wow, that explains why they kept trying to convince me that I was you."

"So you are feeling like yourself?" Castle asks

"Yes I am feeling great. The doctors think I might be able to go home in a few days, but I need to get to my work about something very important."

"Yes we know about it. We are involved in the investigation. Homeland Security has activated an incident. So what can you tell us about the threat?"

"You need to talk to my partner, DEA agent Charlie Jackson, he has all the particulars."

"Angie, I hate to tell you but he was murdered" Beckett expresses her condolences

A tear appears in Angie's eye. After a momentary pause "What happened?"

"He evidently was killed in the hotel in Laredo and then placed into a shipping container and shipped here to New York where his body was found"

Angie looks up at Beckett and Castle "The product was already shipped? OH NO! Did anyone get the sample I brought up here? I just remembered it is in my car"

"No where is your car?" Castle asks

"I drove it to the bar where I met with Andrea. I parked it on the lot next door. Someone better not have taken it. The virus is in a containment container in the trunk"

Kate takes her phone out and dials Ryan "Kevin, check for cars towed from the lot next to the bar where the twins were abducted. It contains a sample of the virus." Kate looks at Angie "what kind of a car?"

"It's a Toyota, gold, 2011, Texas Plates. It belonged to Charlie"

Kate repeats the information to Ryan. "Call me if you get anything" She hangs up

"What can you tell me about who is behind this?"

Angie is still in shock about loosing Charlie "UH! It's a separatists group that thinks the government is totally corrupt."

Castle asks "The New Revolution?"

"Yes, that's them. They are a crazy bunch. They think every part of the government is evil and out to get them. They plan to strike first"

Beckett questions "Where are they located?"

"They have two main camps. One is in New, Mexico and the other in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Both camps have lots of guns and other weapons and the camps are so remote, if you try to go in on the ground, they will see you long before you reach the perimeter fence. No one has been able to get in until Charlie did it about 6 months ago."

From Castle "So what is their plan? I mean what are they trying to do? And why a virus?"

"They have some doctors involved who have somehow generated the smallpox virus and then they grew it in their labs."

Castle is looking at his computer. "There is nothing on this web site to make anyone believe they are doing something so horrible"

"Angie answers quickly "OH they are real serious. The actually were planning this to completely devastate most of the world. They claim they will be the only survivors"

"Where were they going to deploy this and how?"

"They are planning on dispensing it somehow thru the AC system at the UN during a meeting of the General Assembly"

Castle looks over to Kate "If they did that, then the delegates would be infected and not knowing that they were they would return home and spread the disease all over the world"

Beckett responds "There would be no stopping it" then looking at Castle "How would they get it into the AC system?"

"Kate, the truck from the container had a sign on the side that said 'Filters Service' What if they put a coating on the AC filters. They don't actually have to go into the UN, just have contaminated filters delivered to the building maintenance department. The staff does the install for them"

"Rick the next meeting of the General Assembly is day after tomorrow" Kate looks at Angie "You don't know how much help you have been."

"Before you two leave, can you arrange for me to see my twin sister? They told me she is in a coma and I can't see her right now."

"Sure, Angie, I will tell them to let you see her OK?"

"Thank you"

Beckett and Castle head to the nurse's station and Kate asks for the doctor. Doctor Evans steps up Beckett "Yes detective"

"Will you arrange for Angie to see her sister Andrea?"

"Andrea?" the doctor has a questioning look on his face "She was transferred late last night. Two federal agents and another doctor came with orders and took her by ambulance"

"Took her? Where did they take her?"

"I assumed you knew. After they left we discovered that they failed to leave copies of the transfer orders but that this was probably for security reasons. We have no idea where they took her"

Beckett looks at Castle "Now WHO?"


	16. Chapter 16

Castle and Beckett run out of the hospital and get back into her cruiser for a quick ride back uptown to the precinct. On the way Castle is on his phone calling the station. Ryan answers

"Kevin, its Rick. We have critical information. The target is the UN building"

"What? How? That place is the most secure building in the city. No one is getting in there"

"It's the air conditioning filters. They are planning to deliver contaminated filters and then let the staff install them. Virus spreads thru the ducts. Deployment complete"

"OK Castle let me call the UN and see what I can do to stop any delivery of the virus"

"I'll call Fallon and let him know what the plan is. I also have more information about their compounds."

"Got it Castle. We'll get started here I'll talk to you later"

After Ryan hangs up the phone Rick turns to his wife "Kate! This is worse than anything I have ever dreamed up for one of my stories. This would infect the entire world. It's Armageddon "

"I know" is the only response she can come up with. Rick thinks he can see actual fear on her face. A look he has never seen in the 5 years he has been around her and definitely a look he never wants to see again

Castle takes his phone back out and dials the DHS agent When Mark Fallon answers Castle gives him the information about the compounds where the group has set up. Fallon tells Castle that his department and the FBI were aware of the group but up until now had no credible proof that they were actively working on any type of terrorist action. Fallon tells Castle he will get agents mobilized in Texas and New Mexico to act immediately to raid the compounds. Rick tells Fallon that they were growing their own Smallpox and for the teams to approach both locations very carefully. There is no way to know if the virus is located at one facility or the other, or possibly both. Castle tells Fallon that they have arrived at the station and will be inside there in a few minutes. Fallon tells Castle to be ready for an update as soon as Fallon can get the raids arranged.

Castle also tells Fallon about Andrea being taken and asks if he will look into this and find out if another government agency possibly took her and where she might have been taken.

Castle completes the call as they are pulling into the garage below the building.

Once back on their floor they can see that there are now several officers are on the phone probably in contact with the UN facility people. The television monitors that are encircling the room and covering every available inch of space are now displaying cameras from every side of the building and all the approaches to the building on street level. Other techs are working on connecting to the subway cameras getting ready to bring those images to bear. Once the final cameras are brought up the room is completely filled with images of the building and every conceivable way to approach the complex.

Ryan is on the phone with the building manager and seems very agitated. This is displayed by his mannerism "Look, we don't know when. We just know that there is a threat of contaminated air filters being used. That's all we know right now. Look, we will someone down there soon."

"Ryan, are they not concerned that there might be an attack?" Castle questions

"No they say all of the maintenance supplies come to them in secure shipments from their vendors and the vendors are prescreened and security cleared. The inbound shipments are coded so only the shipper and the receiver know what is in the containers. The containers themselves are sealed and have no exterior indication as to what is inside of them. They will not accept deliveries from unknown services or even from an unknown delivery driver. Even the delivery truck drivers are pre screened"

Kate looks at Ryan "You're telling me that a delivery of filters from a filter company such as the truck we saw in the picture would not even get into the building?"

"That's what the director said. Only approved vendors in approved and coded containers are allowed in the building. And those codes are changed regularly so he says there is no way for this to attack to happen"

Castle sits down in his usual chair next to the desk "We have the what they were going to do and the where. I was sure we knew the how it would be delivered. But now I don't know" He leans his head back against the back of the chair

Kate looks over to Rick "We have another issue we have to deal with"

"What's that, honey bun?"

"Ok now its honey bun?"

"Is that better?"

"No that's not any better. Try again. We need to find out what happened to Andrea."

"Yeah we do" Rick turns to Esposito "Javi, someone took Andrea from the hospital last night very late. The doctor said they claim to be feds but they didn't leave any paperwork. Fallon is checking with the other agencies. Can you have street surveillance check traffic cameras for an ambulance leaving the hospital around the time she was taken and try to follow it to its final destination?"

Esposito turns in his chair to the phone on his desk "Working on it"

"Rick, Angie said something about she lived in Boston, yet reports are that her apartment was in Jersey. If the apartment in Jersey is not really hers then what is its connection to her and/or Andrea?"

"Kate, maybe it's really a safe house. They said it looked like no one really stays there. A safe house is only occupied when it's needed and vacant otherwise"

Beckett's phone rings. It's Fallon

"Beckett" Kate listens for a minute. "OK Agent Fallon keep us informed. OH, anything on who took Andrea? Got it! Thanks"

Rick looks at Kate as she repeats her conversation "The two compounds in Texas and New Mexico are very isolated just like Angie said. They are sending unmanned drones to survey from high altitude before they go in with an assault team. He said he is on his way down here so we can all watch the raid when it goes down. And he can find no agency admitting to taking Andrea"

"Kate, I think after the raid is over, you and I go over to the apartment in Jersey and look at it in a different light"

"Good idea Rick".

* * *

When she tries to open her eyes the entire world is a blur and the pain is horrific. The walls, the window, the dresser, even the ceiling is out of focus. Everything is out of focus. Her head is pounding. This is the worst headache she can ever remember having. It is absolutely killing her. She covers her head with the pillow trying to block the light from her eyes. It really does her no good

She hears the door open and a woman's voice can be heard. She doesn't recognize it.

"Hello dear. Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"My head is pounding. Can I have some aspirin?"

"Not. Not yet. The doctor has to see you first. Then if he says you can have something, I will be glad to get it for you."

"Where am I anyway? And who are you?"

"You are safe for now. You have had a very bad two weeks"

"Two weeks? I have been here for two weeks?"

"No. You were somewhere else. We just brought you here last night."

"So, where is here? And who are you?"

She hears the door open. Another person enters the room and speaks. She recognized the voice immediately and she now knows that she is among friends.

"Hello Andrea, how are you feeling today?"

"Doctor Burke! I am so glad to hear your voice".


	17. Chapter 17

**I guess it is time to walk into the scary woods. Let's see how it goes**

* * *

Agent Fallon has arranged assault teams with members from several federal, state and local agencies to conduct a simultaneous raid on both of the compounds. Since he is still in New York, he is returning to watch and direct from the EOC located at the 12th precinct

Beckett and Castle are waiting in the war room for Fallon's arrival at the station.

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, The time has come to get this started. We are almost ready to move on both compounds." Fallon reports as he enters the area

"Agent Fallon" Castle questions,"I was wondering something. Have you interviewed the neighbors of these people? Talked to the residents of towns close by?"

"We have had them under surveillance for some time now. The group has kept to themselves mostly for several years now. Not bothering anyone else. A representative from group would go into town for supplies about once a month but oddly enough no one has seen any of them for about 6 weeks now."

"Did you get any intelligence from the fly over?" Beckett asks

"No in fact, they saw nothing. Nothing at all. There was no movement that could be seen from the air at either camp. We figure they knew the drones were overhead and they simply were hiding out away from probing cameras until the drones were gone.

The monitor speakers crackle with activity and the video monitors change from screen slides carrying the logo saying "Department of Homeland Security" to images from cameras located with the forward advanced team's vehicles

Fallon looks toward the monitors "I looks like it's almost show time everyone" as he turns to stand closest to the main pair of monitors

Castle, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito gather close to Fallon. The balance of the members of the EOC team is slightly farther away but everyone's eyes are on the screens that are now active.

The speakers come alive and they hear

"Team 1 ready"

"Team 2 Ready"

"Team1, Team 2 this is quarterback. You are a go. I repeat you are a go"

The EOC group watches the monitors as they see cameras start to move. It is apparent that the cameras are mounted to vehicles of some type as the images are shaking quite violently as they progress from a concrete surface and turn down a gravel road

Fallon interjects "Team 1 is in New Mexico and Team 2 is Texas"

After a very few minutes there is communication "Team 2 to quarterback. We are approaching the perimeter fence."

"Quarterback, understood"

The EOC group turns its attention to watching the monitor for the Texas team. They can see a fence in the distance

"Team 2 we are approaching what appears to be a guard shack" What they are refering to as a guard shack looks more like a modified travel trailer

"Team 2 Approach very carefully. We have intl that they are well armed and are ready for a direct attack"

"Team 2 understood"

Castle notices that something is off. Looking at the imagery he comments "There are no other vehicles at the entry gate. "Guys! Shouldn't there at least be a car or other vehicle for the guard to be in?"

Esposito responds "Not necessarily. The guard on duty would be transported out to his post then be picked up later when he is relieved. No vehicle would be left at the gate"

Then they hear the radio traffic from the group n New Mexico "Team 1 to quarterback. We have reached the first fence line. We see no movement or any activity. Also we are hearing no electronic traffic from inside the camp. It appears they are dark"

"Team 2 to quarterback. Our camp appears to be dark as well"

Castle looks over Esposito "Javi, what do they mean? They are dark?"

The former sniper responds "This means that there are no electronic signals emanating from the camps. No two-way radios, no cell phones, or other electronic devices that would normally be sending out signals. Nothing at all"

"Isn't that a little odd?" Rick questions "If they were expecting us. Wouldn't they be communicating that we are coming? Reporting to the others what was happening out side?"

Fallon looks over at the former military "Esposito. You have tactical experience. What do you make of this?"

"If I were our field commander and I am hearing no radio communication reporting that we are there then I would be expecting a pre planned counter action. An attack designed to catch us completely unprepared. It would be set to be launched when ever we reach some particular point inside the compound. A place where they can catch us in crossfire. Something like when we reach a specific location on the main street, they commence the attack. I recommend we move slowly and pay close attention at every dead end for traps and be very sensitive to roof tops for snipers"

"Esposito pauses for a moment. "Can you have the drones do a fly over again using Infra Red?"

"Hang on just a second" Fallon picks up a microphone from a radio below one of the monitors that no one had noticed before "Quarterback this is press box, do you copy?"

"Press box, we read you. Go ahead"

Quarterback, can you have a flyby checking for heat in the stadium?"

"Will do press box. Stand by for results. Quarterback to Teams 1 and 2. Proceed slowly but when approaching edge of compound, hold positions in case we need a new game plan"

"Understood"

There is an agonizing period of silence waiting for the reposts back from the drones and the ground forces while the cameras are continuing to display the advances from the raiding parties.

Suddenly there is a crackle in the radio "Break! Break! Team 2"

"Fallon jerks his head toward the monitor for the Texas team "That is the code for an emergency"

"Team 2 go ahead with emergency traffic"

"Team 2 Andromeda! I repeat Andromeda"

"Team 2 can you confirm Andromeda?"

"Affirmative"

"Team 1 we also can confirm same here"

"Team 1 you can confirm Andromeda?"

"Team 1 Affirmative. Andromeda here as well"

"Fallon grabs the microphone "Quarterback this is press box. Call the game. I repeat call the game. Report flyover as soon as it is complete"

"Understood press box. This is quarterback to all teams stand down. I repeat stand down. Return to start point and hold"

Castle looks over to Fallon "Agent Fallon. Did I hear what I think I heard?"

"Yes Mr. Castle. It would appear so" Fallon grabs his phone and dials a number and then steps away from the group

Beckett and the rest of the precinct are just looking at the man with questions on their faces

Kate looks at her husband "Rick, what is going on?"

Castle looks at the DHS agent before answers "Kate did you ever see the movie the Andromeda Strain?"

"No I can't say that I have. Why?"

"In the movie a spy satellite called scoop captures a tiny particle of space dust and returns it back to earth. It fails in its reentry and lands near a town called Piedmont. But before it can be picked up and taken to a secure lab, the town's people open it and everyone dies because of a virus contained in the dust particle. I think that is why DHS is using that code word. Something is bad wrong"

During Rick's conversation with the team, the camera on each lead vehicle continues to scan the area. No movement is seen on either monitor.

Suddenly the radio crackles and everyone turns toward the speakers as if they need to see what is said and not just hear it

"Quarterback this is over watch. The areas scanned are both void of life. I repeat there is nothing emanating heat signatures in either camp except our people"

Fallon is walking back toward the group. He takes the radio and speaks into the microphone

"This is press box. Message understood. Leave cameras and break off teams. Send in the CDC teams and set up level 5 containment perimeter surrounding the camps"

Castle is still looking at Kate as Fallon answers "It appears the separatists may all dead. The team in Texas saw a body near the gate. It was partially decomposed, but they said it looked like smallpox. When the group arrived at the main compound, they found bodies. Lot's of bodies. Bodies covered in pox. Since there are no heat signatures it looks like they may have all contracted the disease and are dead."

The group all stand in stunned silence

Mark Fallon is staring at the screens that are now displaying the cameras left for surveillance

"They are Dead! They are all dead!"


	18. Chapter 18

After the CDC teams have entered the housing compounds to set up containment, the EOC group in New York is being updates on information in the possible bio terror threat to the city and beyond.

As incident commander, Kate Beckett has called all department heads into the main conference room and starts a detail planning.

Kate steps to the front of the room and takes the floor

"Hello everyone! Thanks for coming Based upon information retrieved form the raids earlier, we know this much. They had a doctor or someone claiming to be a doctor that was a member of the group doing all the medical side for this attack. He some how gained access to a tiny viable sample of the smallpox virus. He grew this into a sufficient amount to be deployed in some form of widespread attack. The CDC is still trying to find out where they got the sample. As far as anyone knows the only samples are currently under the control of the CDC Their plan was to protect the members of the group by vaccinating the entire bunch. He inoculated them in a mass campaign a few weeks ago. This was their attempt to be immune to the bug when they deployed their plan"

Ryan asks "Boss, what happened? Instead of immune it appears they all died from the virus?"

"This doctor made one serious mistake. Instead of giving them dead virus, he apparently gave them virus that was still alive. They spread the bug to themselves like they had planned to do to the rest of us, except, he gave it to them directly. They actually gave themselves shots containing the fully loaded virus and they began exhibiting symptoms very quickly"

"Beckett, how would this happen. Wouldn't a doctor know how to do something like this properly?" Esposito questions

"First off they normally would not be given an inoculation. A small amount of dead virus would be placed on the skin and a tiny scratch barely breaking the skin would occur. This is not what he did and because of this, we are now thinking this man did not even finish medical school if he went to one at all."

Ryan is looking at a file "Beckett, his name is on the list from the compound but we have found no record of him completing medical school anywhere in the US or Canada"

"OK! That makes sense, so he did not know the right way to do immunizations. So if it had been done properly after several days the body would react and create a pox nodule. This was the indication the body recognized the virus and attacked the site. The body now is immune to future infection"

Gates asks "Wouldn't there be some who did not take the shots?"

"Yes, but after the initial outbreak, additional members would be infected by the pox nodules from the infected patient and without protection they would get sick. Then this spread like wildfire throughout the compound eventually infecting everyone. And they all died"

Castle looks up from his note taking "Beckett, what about the team here in the city? The ones who picked up the truck from the container on the docks? Wouldn't they also be infected?"

"That is a possibility. We don't know if they are infected and spreading the virus, or they are not infected and are now isolated from their headquarters. They may possibly be determined to spread the bug all by themselves. We just don't know anything about them at this point. We need to find that truck and those individuals"

A uniformed officer steps into the room and hands Beckett a memo. She reads it quickly then looks toward Castle, Ryan and Esposito "They have found Angie's car in the impound lot. It was towed. The container is in tact and CDC possession and has taken it over to Lanie at the isolation lab"

"Fantastic. So that is accounted for" Castle responds

Turning back to the group in the room "All right, we must find that truck and its occupants before they can do whatever they are planning. So let's have someone constantly watching traffic cams and any other cameras we have access to. Patrol cars are to have finding this vehicle their primary focus especially around the building. The General Assembly meets day after tomorrow. That is who we believe is the main target. So, any questions?"

Beckett waits a moment while looking around the room "OK. Everyone lets go find the terrorists"

The crowd exits the conference room leaving Castle, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito sitting at the table

"Guys! I would rather face Maddox again on that rooftop than have to do this" Beckett comments as she runs her fingers thru her hair and leans her head back.

"Kate" Rick says looking at his wife as he gets up from his chair "You are exhausted. Let me take you home. We're not getting anywhere tonight"

She looks up to where her husband has stepped beside her. She knows he is exactly right. Her body needs sleep and emotionally she needs him. She reaches up with her hand to take his.

As he starts pulling her to her feet he says "Lets' go Baby Girl".

This brings a glare from an otherwise exhausted Beckett "Baby Girl? I don't think so!"

Castle looks hurt "Don't like that one either?"

"NO!"

Castle pulls Beckett out to the hallway and over the elevator

Esposito looks at Ryan "Baby Girl? What was that about?"

"Castle is trying out pet names for his wife. That's all"

"It appears that he has not found a suitable name that she likes"

"He will" is Ryan's response with a smile

* * *

The Castle couple are home. Back to the peace and quiet of their private space. Kate has gone directly to their bedroom, taken off her clothes and placed them into the laundry and dry cleaning baskets and has stepped into the bathroom. She would prefer a long hot soaking bath, but a shower is faster and takes much less time. She turns the water on to the hottest she can tolerate then steps into the stream of water

Rick has changed into a pair of lounging pajamas and is in the kitchen setting up the coffee machine to automatically brew a fresh pot in the morning so it will be ready when they get up.

She lets the water flow thru her hair, across her face, covering her shoulders, down her arms and across her chest. She feels the stream of cleansing liquid roll down her back. She turns around and around making sure every inch of her body has been scrubbed of the grime that she has been in contact with today. She lets the clean water start from her head as it flows down her body past her legs and off from her feet as it passes down the drain to be carried away from her. After she has felt that the evil of today has been taken from her, she leans her body against the shower wall and closes her eyes to relish in the clean feeling of the moment

He has realized she has been in the shower a very long time so to make sure that she is all right he steps into the bathroom to check on her. He can see thru the semi-opaque curtain that she is just standing in the shower leaning against the wall opposite the shower head. Letting the water run over her skin. Even though they are now married and he has already seen every inch of her body. He believes that she still deserves her privacy on occasion and he has no right to intrude on those moments.

With a tone of concern in his voice "Hey beautiful are you OK?"

After a brief pause he can see the shadow of her movement and a hand reaches out and takes the edge of the curtain and pulls it back slightly. She looks around the edge of the plastic curtain and he sees something that just takes his breath away.

He sees again a picture of her that is forever burned into his memory.

With her hair wet from the shower, her eye makeup streaking down her cheek and the water from the shower rolling down her face like tears, he sees the exact image of Katherine Beckett that first appeared at his door that stormy night so many months ago.

"Kate. What to you need?"

She reaches out to Rick's face placing one hand on each cheek and pulling him into her.

"YOU"


	19. Chapter 19

Castle has already got dressed and prepared a light breakfast for him and Kate when she exits the bedroom and walks to the kitchen. Rick turns and hands her a cup of fresh morning coffee. She takes the cup from his hands places it on the counter. Then she wraps her arms around his neck and places a soft warm kiss to his lips.

"Good morning" she purrs into his lips

"Good morning beautiful" he says with a smile on his face

"It is amazing how much better you feel after a refreshing shower" Kate giggles "not to mention other relaxing activities"

"So true". He responds while smiling down to his wife "I see you are feeling better this morning?"

"Very much better thank you."

"You heading straight to the station today?"

"I think we might go to the hospital and see how Angie is doing. I just spoke to Ryan and he said that there were some drawings found at the Texas compound that look like engineering documents. They are sending copies to the EOC. Kevin said they are getting engineers in to have a look in hopes of determining where and how the attack will occur."

"Kate, why don't I go into the EOC and see if I can come up with anything while you go see Angie?"

"That will work for me. You want to get a patrol car to pick you up?"

"No, I'll just drive the Ferrari. That will make the media think we are really just doing a drill"

"All right show off. The boys will want to borrow it to go to lunch you know?"

"Right! Call me and let me know how she's doing"

"Got it Castle" Kate steps up into Castle's space and he gladly accepts. A fast kiss and they are both out the door

Kate watches as Rick peels out onto the street heading for the station in his too fast for his own good car and her in her city issue cruiser. She's not worried about him getting stopped. He can outrun any vehicle the city owns

* * *

Angie Cooper is just finishing her breakfast in the living area of her current residence at the hospital where she was brought after her rescue. She looks up at the sound of a friendly voice

"Kate!" she says quite happily as she stands up to be sure she can get a hug. Where's Rick?"

"Hi Angie" Kate responds "Castle went on into the station to try to go over evidence. How are you feeling today?"

"I am doing fantastic. I feel great, but I am so ready to get out of here and get back to my job. The doctor says I might be discharged any day now. The drugs have completely worn off and physically I am getting stronger. They let me work out in the rehab area once a day after the regular patients have finished their sessions"

Then Angie puts a smile on her face as she looks toward the windows a little pensive. She seems to have more on her mind

Beckett sees the look on her face "What else are you thinking about Angie?"

"Oh, nothing much. I just haven't seen by boyfriend in a while. He doesn't know what I do for a living. He thinks I am with the State Department and travel all around the world. You know how it is, wanting to see your man. OH! Wait, you don't think about missing your guy anymore do you? You and your fellow get to go home together every night" Angie smiles at Kate

"Wait a minute Angie. We thought you and Charlie were a couple"

"Me and Charlie? OH NO! We were just working together on this case. My boyfriend is in Boston we share an apartment there."

Beckett looks at her note pad "Is the apartment in your name, his name or both?"

"His name. Why?"

"Well, we tried to find a listing for you in Boston, but there wasn't one"

"That's because it is under his name, Terry Baker. I just lived there part time. I guess I really don't have a place to call home. The closest Andrea or I have to a home is a safe house we get to use occasionally over in Jersey"

Beckett makes note of the boyfriend's name to follow up later with the boys "Listen Angie, I need to talk to you more about the attack. Are you up to it?"

"Yeah, Kate. Let's sit at the table over there" pointing toward the small round table near the television

After the two women get settled, Kate takes out her note pad "Angie. First I need to tell you that it appears all the separatists, or at least the ones still in the New Mexico and Texas compounds are dead"

"Dead? They get killed in a raid? What happened?"

"They died from smallpox. They tried to inoculate themselves and overdosed on live virus became infected and died. It is pretty gruesome I understand. They have been dead for several days and then left in the Texas and New Mexico heat..."

"I understand " Angie comments "I'm glad I was not in the strike team that found that"

"Yeah! Me too" Beckett responds "So Angie, what else can you tell me about their plan? We have not been able to determine how they are going to dispense the virus. You had told us in an earlier visit that it was in the air conditioning system thru the filters. We have checked with the facility managers and they assured us that the AC system is secure and that no one can bring in contaminated AC filters into the building. Their deliveries are well protected from intrusion by outside forces. It appears that no attack can occur to the mechanical systems of the building"

"Charlie and I overhead a conversation between two of their members. The two men were heating and air conditioning technicians. We were in a little roadside café and we could not hear every word said, but we did hear them discussing 'filters' and in another sentence we heard 'air conditioning system'. We also heard the terms 'air flow' and something else that was a little odd 'air intake'"

"So by putting all these individual words into the conversation, you two deduced they were planning on attacking the AC system"

"That's what it sounded like to Charlie and me. At least at the time"

Kate has taken some notes and forwarded them to Castle, Ryan, And Esposito on their tablets

"Angie, I think you two did good. We just need to sort out the details"

About this time Doctor Sydney Evans walks up to the table "Hello Angie, good morning Detective Beckett. How are you two ladies doing today?"

"Very well, doctor" Angie immediately answers

"Very good doctor "Beckett responds "Tell me you have good news for Angie?"

"I do have very good news for her. We are letting her go home"

Angie's eyes light up "When?"

"As soon as you can get your bag packed and I can do the paperwork. But there is one thing. We need somewhere for you to go and someone to take you there"

Beckett immediately speaks up "I will take her with me. She and I need to talk some more and then I can take her to her apartment"

"That is perfect then. So if you two will get her things I will do the discharge and you two can go"

Angie rushes to her room, grabs the bag that Castle. What little Angie has are the clothes Kate gave her. Angie quickly is packed and ready to head out.

Angie looks at the bag "Oh I guess this really is yours. So I'll get all of the clothes back to you as soon as I get home and unpack."

"Angie, you can have the bag and the clothes. I won't be wearing them again" Kate is thinking about these being the items Josh gave her

"Thank you Kate. You are a great friend to have"

The doctor comes in with the discharge papers. He goes over the documents telling her to stay away from any prescription sedative for a few weeks. That it might bring on a relapse or mental confusion. For her to keep up the exercise program she began at the hospital and most importantly

"I want you to follow up with a psychologist that the agency recommends to make sure you are getting all the recovery you need. Here is his card. His name is Calvin Burke"

Beckett smiles "Doctor. I was shot last year and Dr. Burke helped me. I am familiar with him and I will make sure Angie goes to see him"

"Very good ladies. I'll wait to hear back from you and make sure you are ok, Angie. Take care"

Kate and Angie leave the hospital and walk out into the sun. Angie is taken back momentary by the brightness outside "Kate, it has been a while since I saw the sun without a window in between. It feels really good "

Beckett and Angie walk to Kate's cruiser and the two women get in and head to the 12th precinct.

* * *

Richard Castle can't stand to be the last one to arrive anywhere, but today he will be. He calls Ryan and tells Kevin for himself and Esposito meet Castle at the UN. Castle tells Ryan that he thinks if they look around the building they might just figure some thing out.

When Castle arrives at the UN building the two detectives have already beat him there

Esposito asks "So Castle, what you think we will accomplish if we are here instead of the precinct?"

"Not sure, but I know I think better if I am looking at the situation. I want to go inside and meet with the facility manager and talk to him"

Ryan responds "I talked to him earlier, his name is Julius Castro and he insists that there is no way that the terrorists can do anything with the AC filters"

"Castle chimes in "Let's get him to show us around and see if we can come up with something"

The trio enter the building and in a very few minutes are meeting up with the building manager

Introductions are made and Castle tells Mr. Castro why they are there today. He again insists that there is no way for this attack to happen because of all the precautions that are in place. After showing Ryan, Esposito, and Castle into one of the many Air Handler rooms where these filters are located, the three are now convinced that there is no way the filters could be attacked.

"Castle, I was right with you in the idea about the AC stuff, until we saw the size of the filters, That small panel truck could not have delivered even one of the filters here let alone the literally dozens that are in this building." Esposito starts

Ryan continues "Also from what Mr. Castro said, it takes 2 men full time just replacing the units. Once they complete replacing all the filters, it's time to start all over. There is no way they could have replaced all the filters with contaminated filters all at once"

"Right! I know. But we have good intelligence that the AC system is the attack point"

Than almost as if a light goes on, Castle runs to where Mr. Castro is waiting for his elevator "Mr. Castro? Does the air circulate throughout the building. Constantly?"

"No, we have to bring in fresh air all the time or the air will become stale. Why?"

Castle looks at the other two detectives "Show us where the fresh air comes in"

The four men travel to the roof of the building. After they exit the elevator, they have to climb several flights of stairs, out a door the n to a secure fenced in area.

Mr. Castro points to the fence "Behind this fence is the intake for fresh air into the building. As you can see you have to pass thru many security precautions before you even reach the fence."

They are looking at the maintenance gate that is locked.

"Do you have a key?" Castle asks

"Yes I do, but it takes two different keys to open this gate."

"Well, get another key up here, NOW"Ryan states firmly"

After waiting about ten minutes the second key arrives. Castro and the second key holder open the secure gate and Castle, Ryan and finally Esposito enter the fenced in area.

Castle suddenly stops. Hold his arms up, and yells

"GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!" He pushes his partners backwards as he takes his coat off and runs toward the air intake


	20. Chapter 20

**Don't come looking for me. I know where to hide**

* * *

On the trip from the hospital to the station Beckett asks Angie if there is anything else she remembers Charlie telling her about the group. Any strange activities, habits, foods, anything at all. Angie could not remember anything but she still had a couple of holes in her memory from the brainwashing she received

When they arrived at the station, Beckett had to take her to get a badge or someone would have to stay with her every moment but Beckett knew Angie would probably be ok to leave alone.

Once inside Beckett checked in with the watch desk then went looking for her husband. When she arrived at the bull pin, now the war room she did not see Castle, Ryan or Esposito. Beckett looked at several officers standing in the hallway "Do you know where the guys went?" pointing to Ryan's desk

"Yeah. Ryan and Esposito went to the UN building. Castle called and suggested that they might come up with some idea of what is happening if they are on the ground. So they left about an hour ago"

"Thanks guys" Beckett responds as she heads back to her desk. As she approaches her spot in the room, she sees Angie sitting in Rick's chair. Kate still gets a little protective of that chair. That chair has been 'His" chair and no one else's for many years. Before she can say anything about the chair she hears a voice on the radio. One of the cruisers close to the UN building has spotted the truck.

Beckett immediately steps over to the communication area and starts listening. The officers have spotted the truck. It appears that here is no one inside. It is on a parking lot near a café. Beckett takes the radio microphone tells the dispatcher she is taking command of that vehicle. She directs the officers to park their cruiser in a manor where they can watch the vehicle until she can get a covert vehicle there.

Beckett turns to Detective Karpowski. "Get a covert camera, grab your partner and you two take a covert vehicle and head down there. I want you to set up the camera and let me know when you have it finished. Once you get set up on the car. Stand by for next step

Beckett is happy with the current movement on the case. She wished Castle were here to share the excitement

Angie has been watching all the activity on the monitors. "Beckett, this is really cool. You get to watch the action from here without ever getting your hair wet"

Kate smiles back to Angie thinking getting my hair wet can actually be fun. I better get my mind back on the duties at hand. "Angie lets go into the break room and get a bit to eat before the real action starts"

The two women grab a couple of sandwiches and head over to the conference room to eat. Kate tries to pull any more information from Angie, but she tells Beckett that she has told her everything she can remember

"Angie, do you have any more thoughts about this? Any more information come to mind?"

"No Beckett. Nothing. I was hoping something might flash back, but nothing right now?"

Officer Hastings steps up to the door "Sorry to bother you, but they have the camera set up and we are getting a live feed from the location"

"Thanks Hastings, we are on our way" Beckett and Angie take what's left of their lunch and walk back into the war room.

Beckett hears a loud gasp from Angie. When she turns Kate sees Angie has covered her mouth with her hand and shock is in her eyes.

"Angie? What's wrong?"

"That truck, it's a truck that I have seen a lot of times down in Laredo"

"Are these the air conditioning men?"

"No. I saw two men unloading a very large model helicopter from the back. I mean this thing was probably 6 or 7 feet long. It had extra fuel tanks on the sides. When I walked around to look at it I saw TV monitors and all types of control consoles inside the back of the truck. You know remote control stuff. Over the course of a few days these two men would come to a park and fly this model up and over a water tower. Then on a couple of occasions they actually landed it on the tower."

Kate stares at the monitors and a look of acknowledgement appears on her face

She grabs the radio. And calls Karpowski "Roselyn, this is Beckett. Get to that truck and detain the occupants. I think they are trying to use a model helicopter To deploy the virus"

The radio crackles then a voice answers back "You got it boss, on our way"

On the television monitors the movement from the car is seen as the two detectives reach the parked truck. Several uniformed officers arrive from the sides. There are a few moments while the police are yelling at the occupants to open the doors. Identifying themselves as police. Then there is a lot of commotion as the two men in the back of the truck are dragged out and handcuffed.

As short time later Beckett is waiting at her desk for Karpowski to bring the two men in for questioning when she hears the elevator door open. She looks up to see Ryan and Esposito along with Lanie walking onto the floor. They don't have happy looks on their faces.

When they approach Kate's desk, she speaks up "Hey guys, you heard the news? It looks like we got the truck and its driver." When the trio doesn't comment Beckett looks around again "Where's Castle?"

"Lanie speaks first "Sweetie, we need to go over here for a minute" pointing toward Gate's office

"Lanie! Where's Rick?"

Esposito speaks next "Kate, we need to talk. Let's go into the office"

Beckett starts shaking "NO Javi! I don't want to go in there. I want to know where my husband is? He's not with you. Where is Rick? You Tell me! Where is Castle?"

Ryan gently takes Beckett's arm and starts leading her to the captain's office and they close the door. Everyone else in the bull pin had gone completely silent. They have seen these type meetings happen before. They never end well.

The silence in the bull pin is deafening until a shrill scream comes from the captain's office as they all see Kate Beckett grab her face with both hands and fall to her knees on the floor


	21. Chapter 21

**I started to wait to post this but **

**Just to make sure everyone can sleep over the weekend and I don't have to  
watch my back until Monday**

* * *

The 12th precinct is almost back to normal. Homeland Security is in the process of removing all of the television monitors, computers, and extra telephones that were brought in. The technical support people are removing and rolling up the miles and miles of special cables that were installed to connect this place to the rest of the world. Almost all of the desks are back to their regular places. The City of New York command van is no longer parked outside on the curb.

The media has lost their interest in the events happening on the 4th floor of this building.

If the media only knew all the details they would still be outside trying to get the story. But the newspapers will never know everything that happened inside this building and elsewhere or even who was involved.

Inside the station the atmosphere is tense. There are whispers among the officers. Quiet conversations over the coffee machine between themselves. Questioning glances between friends and coworkers about where this will all end up?

The telephones are ringing again with their usual fare of murders and mayhem. But everyone on the floor feels empty and not very interested in rushing back into the job they signed on for.

The detectives who work in this house are more than ready for things to return to normal. Except they are afraid that things will never be normal again. They feel incomplete. They have all grown accustomed to the fighting foursome who always drove them. Led them. Made them laugh and now caused them to cry

The elevator door opens and a somber Agent Mark Fallon enters the arena. He walks directly to Victoria Gates' office. When he arrives, the captain acknowledges his presence and motions for him to come inside. Agent Fallon steps past the entry and turns to close the door.

"Agent Fallon, if you are here to give me some bad news that will affect all the members of this team" She points out to the bull pin "Then leave the door open so everyone can hear because I don't want to have to repeat whatever you are going to be telling me"

"No captain. That is not why I am here. I came here today to pass on to you and your team, the thanks of a grateful nation and offer well earned congratulations from my department. I am here to tell you that because of the efforts of your team, I am recommending individual commendations be issued to each and every member of this group" he points over his shoulder to the officers outside "A very dangerous situation was thwarted and what few members of that group remain alive are in custody and will remain there for the rest of their lives. You should be proud of this station and its members"

Captain Gates looks past Agent Fallon and is looking at the desk and chairs normally occupied by Detective Beckett and Richard Castle "Yes agent Fallon. It was a great success. But at what cost?"

"Captain, I cannot and will not judge the actions of these fine men and women that serve under your leadership. I will tell you one thing. I have never seen the level of sacrifice I have witnessed this week from any others. You should be proud"

"Yes I am"

Mark Fallon stands to leave. "From what I have seen, the outcome of this event could be devastating for your people"

"You have no idea Mr. Fallon"

Agent Fallon opens the door to Gates' office and as he walks toward the elevator, the entire contingent of 12th precinct officers both uniformed and plain clothes are standing at the aisle watching and waiting for any comment from the federal agent. He has never felt so depressed himself over any incident he has had a part of. He wants to say something, but he cannot find the words to speak.

The elevator doors open, he gets in, and turns to face the crowd. There are tears in almost every eye he can see.

* * *

Doctor Parish walks up to the bed where Katherine Beckett-Castle has finally fallen asleep. Lanie is trying not to wake her up. Kate needs her sleep. Crying for a solid day has drained Kate of all her fluids so Lanie brings another bottle of water and places it quietly on the floor next to the bed. Beckett has not moved from this spot since she was brought here by her partners 24 hours ago.

Even if Kate were to wake up, Lanie doesn't know what to say to her. These two have been best friends for a very long time and have always been able to talk. Happy Talk. Serious talk or just talk stuff. Lanie is not sure what she could possibly say to Kate at this time

As Lanie starts to walk away she hears a very weak voice call her name. She turns to look at over to Kate.

"Hey sweetie. Do you need something?"

"I don't know what it would be" Kate sits up in the bed and reaches her hand around to the back of her neck. "Has anyone been able to get a hold of Martha and Alexis?"

"Yes. The State Department found them in a little chalet just outside of Stockholm and they are flying them back as we speak"

"I hate that this happened while they were gone. Martha and Alexis will never forgive me, Lanie"

"Kate. This is not your fault. He did this to protect all of us. He is a hero everyone's eyes."

But Lanie. I could have stopped him. I could have told him to stay home and let the police handle this. It was not his job. I should have insisted he not get involved."

"Kate he saved a lot of people. Maybe everyone in the city"

Lanie is not sure how Kate is even able to see. She is looking thru red swollen eyes.

"Kate, Javi told me what happened. Castle went in and saw the helicopter start to rise up and that there were nozzles set to deploy the virus. He took off his jacket and lunged on top of the chopper and covered it with his coat, stopping the spray from getting into the air intake."

"Yeah Lanie and sealing his own fate in doing so"

"Sweetie, the doctors say he may not even be infected. The virus might have been trapped in his coat. They just are not sure right now

"But he hit his head and is now unconscious. They don't know if he will ever wake up

"Kate, you need to go home to your own bed. You need rest. I mean real rest. Not this old army bed" Pointing at the thin mattress on top of a cheap set of springs that Kate is currently sitting on

"Having you get sick is not going to help anyone"

"Lanie. I am not going home right now. I can't go home. I can't go back to that bed without him in it"

Kate says as she stands up and walks over to the window and looks into the isolation room where her husband is laying in a coma

"I have to be here when he wakes up"


	22. Chapter 22

Martha and Alexis are met at the airport by Ryan and Esposito. The Castle women are rushed thru customs with the aid of an agent from the State Department being present to assure no delays.

The two detectives load the suitcases into their cruiser and head directly to the morgue. Alexis is the first to notice the direction that the two detectives are driving

"Ryan? Why are we heading toward the morgue and not the hospital?"

"Oh I didn't mean to scare you. The CDC has set up the containment facility at the morgue. It was the most central location with a large enough lot along with the necessary facilities" Ryan responds

"Oh! You mean facilities like a morgue has with refrigerated units for body storage?" Alexis responded very sarcastically

"No. Sorry little Castle. I didn't mean for it to sound like that. We were referring to the laboratory facility. The morgue does have the best medical lab with isolation capability in the city so the CDC set up there".

Martha has not spoken which is very out of character for her "Kevin, what are the doctors saying about Richard?"

"They currently believe that he trapped the virus with the coat he threw on top of the helicopter. This prevented the virus from escaping into the atmosphere. The current concern is if any of the virus actually came into contact with Castle. They are keeping him in isolation for at least two weeks in case he was to have a break out."

Martha responds "Well thank goodness Richard was immunized for smallpox when he was very young"

Ryan quickly turns his head back toward the two women "Did you say that Castle has been vaccinated for smallpox when he was a child?"

"Yes, oh yes my boy. He and I went on a trip to Europe when he was about 7 or 8 and I thought it would be a good idea to get all the vaccinations that were out there at the time. He was not a very happy little boy. He cried for three days about all the shots. And there were a lot of them. Afterwards when that ugly pox showed up on his arm, he started crying again. He thought it meant he had caught smallpox and was going to die from it. The doctor and I both could barely convince him that he was not going to die from smallpox and the sore was normal part of the treatment process"

Ryan takes his phone out and immediately dials Lanie and puts it on speakerphone

From the other end of the call the four hear the medical examiner answer

"Hey Ryan. Did you two pick up Martha and Alexis yet?"

"Yeah we did and we have some great news. Castle was vaccinated for smallpox when he was a little boy"

"Do you know if it took? I mean did he get a pox nodule pop up on his arm?"

"Yes, Martha said that he thought that meant he had caught smallpox"

Lanie has joy in her voice "Technically he did. That nodule meant his body fought off the disease and it now knows what to fight. That is great news. I will let the doctors know here. I know Kate will be happy"

Martha speaks up from the back seat "How is Kate doing. I know that girl must be very stressed right now?"

Lanie can be heard answering "Yes, Martha, she has stayed in the containment tent ever since we brought Castle here yesterday. She won't go home. She wants to be here when he wakes up"

"Is he still unconscious?"

"Right now he is. Still out The doctors say he took a pretty good bump on his head when he hit the AC vent on the roof. "

"Richard has a pretty hard head. Did he dent the vent?" Martha tries for a bit of levity

All the others put out a light chuckle except Alexis. She has so far sat quite in the back seat with a very concerned look on her face. Or possibly anger

Lanie speaks back up. "Let me go tell the CDC doctors the good news. And of course I will be letting Kate know so maybe she can get some rest knowing her man is probably not going to die from smallpox"

"Ok Lanie we will be there in about 20." Ryan hangs up the phone

Alexis decides to finally say something "What was my dad doing chasing terrorists who had smallpox. Why was he on the roof of the UN? Why was he even involved? Why wasn't he at home where he belongs? He is not a cop. Why did Beckett let him do this?"

Martha responds to her granddaughter "Alexis! Your father is the only one responsible for his actions. Kate did not force him to go in and do whatever caused this. So young lady whatever you want to think about what happened you will not blame Kate for this. She loves your dad every bit as much as you and I do. She probably already blames herself for this. So I suggest you back down, not add any more to her grief and give your step mother a little room"

Alexis looks out the window of the police car. She knows her grandmother is right. Her dad did whatever he decided needed to be done and not something Kate made him do. In fact Beckett would have stopped him had she been there on that roof. "Yes grams"

The cruiser pulls into the parking lot and they see one very large containment tent set up. It is completely hidden from the street. This explains why the media is not all over the occupants wanting to know about the activities happening in the back lot.

The two red heads exit the car ands rush into the side entrance. They are stopped immediately by security who tells them that they cannot enter. Alexis pulls out her ID and tells the man that her father is inside the facility and she will see him. Before the officer can object, Kate walks up from behind

"Let them pass this is Castle's mother and daughter"

The guard opens the door and lets the two women in. Martha grabs Kate into one of her famous Broadway diva hugs and Alexis comes up and wraps her arms around Kate as well. For a brief moment the three women in Richard Castle's life are standing in a mutual embrace.

"Any news on his condition?" .Martha asks

"No change. We passed the word to the CDC that Rick had been inoculated for smallpox when he was a child. They think that may be enough to protect him. Also they discovered that all of the virus they tested from the sprayer was dead. It had already become non viable. It seems that they forgot that putting the virus in a shipping container from Texas, in the Texas heat without any air conditioning is not a very good way to deliver it. They said the temperatures inside the container probably hit 135 degrees or maybe more for extended periods of time. Not good for the bugs"

Alexis looks up to Beckett "We have not heard any details about what happened. What exactly did my dad do?"

Kate pulls the two into a break room and they sit at the lunch table. "Ryan and Esposito went up on the roof with Rick. When they opened the security gate surrounding the fresh air vents, Rick saw the helicopter. It started to rise up and turn toward the vents. It looked like it was getting ready to spray the virus so he took his coat off and lunged to throw it over the top of the copter and when he did, he hit his head on the metal frame of the air vent. No one could go in to help him until bio hazard suits could arrive for the rescuers to wear"

Beckett takes both women's hands and pulls them up and takes them thru the door to the observation room beside the isolation unit "Come on I'll take you two to him"

When they enter the observation room, Beckett is immediately taken back. She looks thru the window and Castle is not there. The room is empty. She runs back into the hall to the nurse's station

"Where's Castle. What have they done with my husband?"


	23. Chapter 23

**_Thanks for all the comments. Expecially those who seem to love the Angst.  
when I pull our two love birds apart everyone loves it._**

**_But come on guys, AWM called this a love story._**

**_Story Note. The words below that are in italics are Ricks coma state_**

* * *

_He feels like he is spinning like a top. His eyes can't seem to focus on anything. There is nothing to focus on. The world is a blur. There is a bright light in his eyes._

_Then he hears the sound of a siren. A police siren. No wait! It's an ambulance. He is in an ambulance. No it isn't an ambulance it's a space ship He must be in a space ship. He has been abducted by aliens. He knew it would happen some day. They came and took him. The aliens came and have abducted him and are taking him to their mother ship. The aliens are wearing space suits. Their voices are muffled and he can't understand what they are saying._

_He feels like he is awake again. He is in a room. On a bed. The room is all white. He must be on board the space ship. He can feel his arms and his legs, but for some reason he can't move them. His hands are not tied down. He just can't move his arms or his legs. They must have used a stun ray on him. That explains why he can't move. He can move his eyes but not his head._

_He can hear voices. They seem muffled. Can't be sure what language, but it does not sound like English. He hears the sound of a zipper. He glances his eyes toward the sound and another alien enters the room wearing a spacesuit. If he is on their space ship, why is he wearing a space suit? Oh wait. The aliens have created an atmosphere that Castle can breathe inside, but the aliens can not. So when ever the alien comes into the room, he must put on a protective suit so the space man can breathe._

_I want to talk to the alien. I want to ask him all these questions. But I can't talk. I can't move. I can just look around and listen. Castle thinks "OH Boy! When I get home I am going to be able to write a first hand story about being abducted. This is going to be great."_

_Oh no. The alien is giving me some thing in an IV. Don't do that. Please I want to be awake so I can write about this. _

_The alien turns a knob on the IV _

_Good night Sleep_

* * *

Kate asks again "What did you do with my husband"

"Mrs. Castle, not to worry, they have simply moved him out of isolation. Since we have found out that one he was given the smallpox vaccination when he was younger and two we have not found any viable virus on his skin anywhere. The doctors believe it is safe to release him from the isolation unit."

Lanie has heard the commotion and runs around the corner. She takes Kate's hand and continues the explanation.

"Sweetie, by doing so he can receive better treatment since we will not have to wear protective clothing. while we treat him. Not to mention that having family and friends be able to come in and actually tough him and have direct contact, that should speed up the recovery The plan is to move him to a regular hospital by tomorrow morning and then to rehab as he gets better.

"Lanie, is he awake?"

"Not yet. But the doctors treating him believe that he will wake up any time now, so as soon as we get him settled in the room, we will let all of you come in to see him. Just give us about an hour OK?"

"Thanks, Lanie" Kate turns back to Martha and Alexis. Both of the other two women heard Dr. Parish explain what was happening.

The three women go back into the break room. They sit quietly for a moment, and then Alexis gets up and walks over to the coffee machine. She pours two cups of coffee. One black and in the second she puts two pumps of sugar free vanilla. She then brings one to her grandmother and sets one down in front of Kate.

Beckett looks at the cup just placed down in front of her then up to the face of the red head that just made the delivery

"I know my dad always gets coffee for you. Consider this from him and just being delivered by me"

Kate recognizes this small action as acceptance of her by the daughter of the only man Kate has ever really loved. She knows now that the three Castle women are together as one. And together they are stronger.

The break room door opens and Lanie steps in "All right you three, he is moved and you can go in to see him."

The trio get up and as they start toward the door Lanie continues her instructions "

Now remember, he has a lot of wires and tubes, but that is normal. He is physically fine. We just need him to wake up. Also be aware that his eyes will open and close at times. That does not mean he is actually seeing you. But if he is, it will do him the most good to see family and loved ones It is also believed that the brain can hears what is going on around it and that the more input he gets especially from the people he cares about the stronger the mental urge is to wake up. So talk to him. Hold his hand. Talk to him about things that you have done together in the past. Remind him of happy events. Those are good things for him to remember. Things that will help him wake up."

Lanie opens the door to the room where Castle has been taken and Martha, Alexis and Kate step up to the bed. Lanie was right about all the wires and tubes being scary. Alexis takes her dad's hand "Hi dad. I'm here. Grams and I came home to see you.. I love you dad"

Martha is standing on the same side of the bed with her granddaughter. "Richard my boy. Its time to get up" while she shakes his foot. She looks over across the bed to where Kate is holding Rick's other hand tightly. "This is how I got him up when he was young"

Kate leans into Rick's cheek. She comes close to his ear and whispers something. When she stands back up she puts on her evil "I am such a big tease" smile as she is looking down to her husband

This has raised Alexis' curiosity "Kate, what did you just whisper into my dad's ear?"

Martha knows that this is probably something a young daughter does not need to know about the relationship between her dad and his wife "Lexi, darling, let's just say Kate is using every trick in the arsenal to get her husband to wake up including promises of exciting things between just the two of them"

Kate just smiles across the bed to the two red heads

* * *

_The aliens are gone. He can see a regular window. He seems to be in a bed. The room is no longer solid white. And he can hear voices. These voices sound familiar. He recognizes the voices. They are the voices of his mother and his daughter. He tries to speak, but no words come out. Somehow I have to talk to them. Tell them I am OK _

_He hears another voice. A voice that is very important to him. His partner. He hears the voice of Detective Kate Beckett. What is she doing here? She should be at work. She doesn't need to be taking time off of her work to be here with him. She might loose her job. But then again maybe not since Captain Montgomery likes Castle and has been very good about members of the team looking after other in times like this_

_Hearing her voice made his mind start spinning around and back again. He suddenly feels like he is back in that alley again trying to make a pick up of one super hot, super sexy detective that he just met. _

_"We could go to dinner. Debrief"  
"Why Castle so I could be another one of your conquests?"  
"Or I could be one of yours"  
Goodbye Castle"  
"Too bad it would have been great"_

_"YOU HAVE NO IDEA"_

_Why do I keep going back to that day? Maybe because that would have been the biggest mistake of my life? She turned me down. I am glad she did. She just made me want her more. But now I want her for all the right reasons_

_Now he hears the doctors talking about moving him to a regular hospital. Good maybe they will let me wake up. I need to wake up._

* * *

Kate is riding in the ambulance to the hospital where Rick is being transferred. She will not let go of his hand. He knows if she touches him enough then he will feel her and come back to her. She wants to fulfill the promise she made quietly in his ear. Not just as a tease for him, but something that she will totally enjoy as well.

After their arrival at the hospital and Rick is settled in, Martha arrives and tells Kate to go home and get some rest and clean up. With Martha here Kate finally feels like she can take a short break and go home for a little while.

Kate Beckett-Castle returns to their loft, steps into the bedroom, and walks out of her clothes as she walks directly into the shower and begins washing the last three days off of herself.

* * *

_Castle hears the voices again. This time he looks around. Again he sees blurry images. But this time. He is positive that one of the images is Kate Beckett. _

_His head courses through all the little events that made him fall in love with this woman. Her little teases. Does she really have a tattoo? He has never seen it. Does she have a navel ring? Have not seen it either. Maybe she was just doing one more thing to make me want her. Everything she does makes me want her. Does she have any idea what that does to me just with just her eyes? I could forever get lost there_

_His mind flashes into the alley behind the warehouse where Lockwood is holding Ryan and Esposito. The rescue plays over again in his mind. How good it felt to hold Kate in his arms. How wonderful her lips felt. OH! That moan that left her mouth into his as they were kissing. That felt so natural. So real. So spontaneous. Then she says something into his ear. It's a whisper. She is going to do WHAT to me? Kate Beckett would not say such a thing to me. Was it real? He is just wishing it were real, If it was real, then he has a chance with her but probably not. After all she is dating Doctor Davidson he is the main focus of her love. _

_I must try to wake up. I hear my mother's and daughter's voices. They keep calling me to wake up. _

_Now I hear_ Beckett_ again. She is calling me again. But I can't find her then suddenly, we are standing in the cemetery. Why are we here? Montgomery's funeral. Oh No! Roy is dead? What happened to Roy? I know what I am going to do. I am going to kiss Kate. For real before something like this happens in my life. I need to tell Kate I love her. I need to try to make her mine. I am tired of running around pretending that I don't love her. I do love her with all my heart _

_I hear a shot and Kate's on the ground bleeding. I must stop her from dying. I love her. I must tell her I love her_

_I hear my mother again. Things around me are becoming more clear. I can actually see. Some things are in focus. There I see my mother and Alexis. I see Kate standing talking to Alexis._

_What is that? What do I see? Something on Kate's left hand. A ring? A wedding ring! I am too late. She already got married to someone else. Who did she marry? I bet it's the doctor _

_Why did I wait so long to tell her? Too long! Now, it's too late? I have no reason to wake up. The love of my life is married to someone else. I don't want to go on without her  
_

_I think I will just go back into my endless sleep _


	24. Chapter 24

**Again Rick's Memories in the Coma are in italics**

* * *

Kate is sitting in a totally uncomfortable device that they call a chair next to the outside windows in Rick's hospital room. This chair might just qualify as cruel and unusual punishment if it were inside a prison. Kate thinks she will take it back to the station and use it in the interrogation room. If she does then she will probably be able to get a confession from every suspect she brings in. All she has to do is to tell then they will stay in the chair until they confess

She has tried for three days to sleep but here in the hospital room, it's just not possible in this chair

She hears a quiet sound coming from the direction of the bed. It is the sound of the rustling of bed sheets. She snaps up from the chair and walks over to the side of the bed. She thinks she sees a slight movement in one arm. She waits several minutes before returning to the torture chair.

I am trying to open my eyes again. I think I see a light. In front of that light I see the most beautiful woman in the world. Kate Beckett. Why do I think so much about her? Where do I come off thinking that I even had a chance with her?

I have no chance now that she's married. I saw her ring on her finger. She married that doctor guy.

Why does she still come here? Or maybe I am just wishing she is here. She should be with her husband. I remember going to the wedding. She was wearing the most beautiful dress. Was it blue, maroon, navy?

I need to wake up my mother and my daughter needs me. Kate has her husband now. So I know my love for her was unwanted. I will just move on. I don't want to move on but I will.

Why do I keep hearing Kate's voice calling me? I want her. I just want her. I love her but she is married to someone else.

OH! My head hurts

The room door opens and Beckett sees her two other partners enter. Kevin and Jenny Ryan along with Javi Esposito quietly step inside.

"Hey guys" Kate speaks very weakly and quietly

Jenny steps over to Kate first "Hello Kate, how are you doing?"

"I've been better" Beckett responds while looking at her unconscious husband

Esposito speaks up "Is there any news or changes in his condition?"

"No, Javi. Nothing definite yet. He opens his eyes sometimes and I think has is trying to wake up." Then she glances over and it is obvious she is fighting tears "I want him back"

Both Jenny and Kevin put their arms around her. One on each side

Esposito asks Beckett "Have the doctors said anything at all? Do they know when he is going to come out of this?"

"No real answers Javi. They think it is only temporary and he should wake up very soon. They say the EEG is normal. That means his brain is working. He does not have brain damage" Kate steps over to the bed and rubs her hand up and down his arm

"So they don't believe he has any permanent damage?" Jenny asks

"No. He had swelling on the brain from the bump on his head and as soon as that swelling goes down, he should wake up"

While the four are talking the room door opens and Martha and Alexis enter.

"Hello Ms. Roger, Alexis" Esposito begins "Good to see you"

"OH Hello Mr. Esposito" Martha seems to always be very formal even with her son's best friends

Martha firmly speaks to her daughter in law "Kate, you need to go home and rest. You are no good to Richard if you are sick. So please darling. GO HOME!"

"Martha. I need to be here when he wakes up. He needs to know I am here."

"Kate, I don't need to worry about you" Martha insists

* * *

_Why are we in the cemetery again? Roy Montgomery's funeral. What happened to Roy? He was killed by the men who killed Beckett's mother_

_I see a muzzle. "Kate" I hear a gun shot. Kate is hit in the chest_

_I am holding her head. She is bleeding to death. I can't loose her_

_"Stay with me Kate. I love you! I love you Kate"_

_Then a voice comes from the bed that shakes everyone "Kate! Help! She's been shot."_

_The entire group turns toward the bed. Castle's eyes are still closed, but he did just speak out loud_

_Kate rushes to grab his hand "Rick can you hear me?"_

_"Someone get help. Beckett's been shot. She's bleeding!"_

* * *

"Rick I'm right here. I am OK I survived the shooting." Kate has tears pouring from her eyes

"Lanie, come help. Get an ambulance. Quick" Then he suddenly gets very quiet. His eyes are still closed

Then almost a whisper "Stay with me Kate. I love you. I Love you Kate"

Beckett is now completely falling apart just remembering the moments surrounding the event that brought Rick to utter those words. So much pain, yet so much love passed from him to her. The strength that came from his love that he gave to her kept her alive that fateful day.

Beckett leans up to Castle's face. "I love you Castle. I love you. Please hurry and come home to me" She places gentle kisses to his eyes, cheeks and then finally his lips.

Castle goes calm again.

The room door opens and a doctor enters the room "Hello everyone. I am Doctor Sydney Evans I am the attending this evening are you the Castle family?"

Martha takes the stage as she always tries to do "Yes doctor. I am Martha Roger. This is my son and this is Alexis Castle his daughter "pointing out her grand daughter "and she is Katherine Beckett-Castle, his wife" Martha direct the attention toward Kate

"Very nice to meet everyone. I am just here to make a visit and do an evaluation on Mr. Castle. Would it be possible for everyone to join me in the conference room and let's visit about his condition?"

The entire group leaves the patient room and proceeds down to the main floor and a conference room in the administration wing of the hospital

After everyone is settles, the doctor begins with a report about the lab results, the brain scans. EEG EKG, CAT Scans, MRI and reports on test after test. He tells the family in great detail the outcome of each and every one of the tests. After he gives the reports he asks if they have questions.

Kate starts up "When is he going to wake up?"

"Mrs. Castle. I wish I could give you an answer. We just don't know. The brain is a very complicated machine. He might wake up in a few minutes, it might be days, weeks or I am afraid he might never wake up but we believe there is a good chance he will recover soon. We just don't know right now"

"Can't you give us any better news?" Martha questions

"Mrs. Roger. I wish I could give you an exact answer, but the truth is we simply don't know right now"

The conversation continues to center around Castle's mental status. After almost an hour of conversation the group breaks up and step into the hall.

Esposito and the Ryan's tell the Castle women that they are leaving and heading home. Kate tells them they she will call if anything changes.

Kate, Martha and Alexis leave the elevator and walk toward Castle's room when Beckett senses that there is something wrong. Her pace increases the closer she comes to the empty room. The room has been cleaned and the bed made and there is no indication that Rick was ever there

She runs to the nurse's station "Where is Richard Castle?"

The nurse looks at her questioning "You came here a little while ago and took your husband with you by ambulance"

"I was here? I was not here"

"Yes Mrs. Castle. I recognize you. You came and took him out. It was definitely you"

"I was in a meeting downstairs with your attending Doctor Sydney Evans"

"Mrs. Castle, there is no Doctor Sydney Evans in this hospital."

Kate steps back to against the wall, places her hands in her face as she slides down the wall


	25. Chapter 25

He can see her beautiful green eyes approaching his face

"Beckett! What are you doing?" Castle's first words out loud in several days are confusing to the medical technician standing in the room

In his mind he hears her say "I am kissing you. That's what I am doing. You have a problem with that?"

Castle responds out loud again "Well I do not go around kissing another man's 'wife. So yeah I have a problem with that"

The moment that he feels her lips meet his lips, there is a jolt of electricity and his arms reach upright toward Kate. But instead there is no one there.

Richard Castle has awakened from the coma he has been residing in for the last three days. He has a headache but his eyes are open and he is alert

"Welcome back Mr. Castle the technician standing close to him says. My name is Oscar and I am the laboratory technician and I will be drawing some blood in a minute, but first let me go and get the doctor. He is going to be glad to see you awake"

"Where am I?" Rick questions

"You are in a private medical facility outside the city. It's for special people like you to recover from serious head injury"

Oscar leaves the room to go tell the staff that Castle's awake

The doctor enters the room "Mr. Castle I am Doctor Sydney Evans and I am so very glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?

"Well my head definitely hurts in fact it is pounding. What happened?"

"Do you remember anything?"

Castle pauses a minute "No. I uh...the last thing I can remember. I had a fight with Kate Beckett. I walked out of her apartment and we are no longer partners or even friends"

"Mr. Castle I can tell you that you and Ms. Beckett are still partners. In fact you two more than just partners. You two are married"

Castle is startled by this revelation. "Married? That is not possible. We had a fight and I walked out of our relationship. The way I left it, she would never been willing to speak to me again, let alone to ever forgiven me"

"Well, Rick I will assure you that you did get together

Castle looks out the window for a moment processing the data just given to him "So when did we supposedly get married?"

"It was about 3 weeks ago. In fact you surprised everyone. No one knew you two were a couple and while in Las Vegas, you popped the question and ya'll just did the deed"

"Doctor, I really don't remember that. I do remember her and I talking about our relationship and I had been hoping we could be together, but then I overheard her admit that she knew I loved her, but she didn't feel the same about me"

The confusion in Rick's brain is not processing memories in order or even accurately

"The fight you mentioned occurred several months ago but now the two of you have been dating away from the precinct from around that time"

Not willing to listen to any more information about Kate, "How did I get here? And where exactly is here?"

"This is a recovery hospital. This is where we took Andrea. She is totally recovered now and ready to tackle the world"

"Who is Andrea?"

"Rick, do you remember the threat with the smallpox virus?

"NO"

"Do you remember the UN building being a target for terrorists?"

"NO"

"Do you not remember. You threw yourself on top of a model helicopter that was going to spray a deadly toxin into the AC system"

"NO. Doctor, I don't remember anything after Kate and I fought"

"You do have big empty space in you memories, don't you?"

"I guess I do. Can I see my daughter and mother now?"

"We will get them in soon. You need to understand that this is a secure facility and only a few people even know it's here. So we limit visitors to those with clearance"

Castle's face falls when he realizes that the two women in his life are not being allowed in to see him

Doctor Evans looks out the hallway door and sees another doctor coming their way

"Rick, we will get them all in soon, but right now, we need to fix your memories. Another member of our team s coming in right now to see you"

The room door opens and another man enters "Hello Rick. Do you remember me?"

"No. I am afraid not. Who are you?"

"My name is Burke. Doctor Carver Burke and we are going to see if we can fix some memory issues today."

"Hello Doctor Burke. It is nice to meet you." Castle extends his hand in friendship

Dr. Burke and Castle spend an extended period of time visiting about the events prior to today. Castle tells the doctor about seeing Kate in his dreams and that she is married to someone, because Castle saw her ring and was positive it was not from him. Burke decided not to push the issue at this time and would be giving Rick space to process the events that seem to be missing from his mind

Back in the doctor's lounge Dr. Burke and Doctor Evans are comparing notes.

Dr. Burke makes his first observations about Castle. "It appears that during his attempts to come out of the coma he did see Kate and her ring. It also appears that the last interaction with her he can remember was the fight where they broke up and she almost got killed. But he is not remembering anything past that."

"Has he given any indication that his former involvement with the company has been compromised?"

"No. The blocking that was done to him back then seems to be holding. His memories of his CIA training has been well suppressed" Burke answers

"It's too bad that these mental training techniques are what caused his coma in the first place"

"Do you think this trauma might cause any of his CIA memories to come back to the surface?"

"I certainly hope not. When he was allowed into Agent Turner's group for research we took a giant chance of what he saw getting out. But the blocking techniques we used back then were every good. I think they are still holding."

Doctor Evans finally asks "Can we do something, anything to fix the memories of his current life? We need him back with his family. You do know that he and Kate were planning to have a formal wedding next week in the Hamptons"

"Yeah I know. I was invited"

Doctor Evans looks out to the corridor. "Yes, we need Katherine Beckett back to her normal life so the research using her, Angie and Andrea as the test subjects can continue"


	26. Chapter 26

**Lets wrap this story up**  
**The beginning is Angst**

**The end is better**

* * *

Kate is sitting curled up on the couch in her apartment. She cannot go back to the loft. The memories from there are too powerful. She doesn't think she can handle being there without him. It has been 4 days since she last saw her husband. Four days since he disappeared. No one knows who took him or where he was taken. The police and the FBI have exhausted all leads on the case.

She really does not want to do anything but she knows she really needs to get moving again. She can't just sit here in tears 24/7. She must get back to work.

There is a knock at the front door. She struggles to get up and see who it is

She opens the door to find a delivery driver standing there holding a long covered box. Kate didn't order anything especially something so large. She doesn't know why someone would be delivering anything at all let alone such a large item. She signs the delivery ticket and asks the driver to take the box and place it on the table in her apartment.

Closing the door, she walks back into the main living room looking at the package and trying to figure out what might be inside. When she gets to the table she takes the top cover off of the box.

Kate collapses onto the floor and begins to cry. Why has someone done this to her? Who is it that has such a sick sense of humor that they would do such a horrible thing to her at a time like this? She looks all over the package to find out who sent it. But the only information is the delivery ticket addressed to Katherine Beckett and her address. There is no return address, but she knows where it came from. But she doesn't know why it was sent right now

Kate stumbles to the nearest telephone and dials her best friend. When she answers, Kate hears the voice of Lanie Parish

"Lanie, I need you here. I need you right now!"

"Kate, what's wrong?"

"Lanie, please just come over to my apartment. Please hurry"

"OK girlfriend. I will be there in a few minutes"

Kate hangs up the telephone and sits beck down on the couch just looking at the box that just delivered.

It takes Lanie about 10 minutes to get to her door. When Kate hears the knock, she bolts to open the door and drags her best ever friend into the apartment.

"Kate, what in the world is going on? Why are you so panicked? I thought someone attacked you."

"Well, that is just what has happened! Look!"

Kate points to the package sitting on the couch. Lanie walks over and the shock on her face is evident

"Where did this come from? Who delivered it?"

Kate answers as best she can "A delivery driver just brought it and I have no idea where it came from or why now"

"Did you call the delivery service to see where it was sent from and by whom?"

"Look Lanie at the delivery ticket. There is no company name or phone number. There is no shipper. The only address is mine"

"Sweetie. This is so wrong. Let me get CSU down here to do fingerprints on the box and see id we can find something to trace the people who are trying to do this to you."

"Lanie, I don't think you will find anything. Anyone who is capable of pulling this off will not leave prints"

Kate drops down on her couch again and places her head into her hands then grabs a handful of hair and runs her fingers thru from front to the back.

"Lanie, this is one hell of a cruel joke"

"There is nothing funny about this, Kate"

Before Kate can respond to the comment her phone rings. Kate looks up toward the phone "Lanie will you answer that? I don't want to speak to anyone right now"

Lanie is closer to the phone anyway and was already walking to pick it up. Caller ID says Blocked

"Hello" Lanie pauses a brief moment "I'm sorry, Mrs. Castle is not available right now. Can I help you?" As she listens, there appears a frown on Doctor Parish's face. "Just a moment"

Lanie takes the phone down from her ear and looks toward her best friend "Kate, he asked for Mrs. Castle and he said he needs to talk to you about the delivery you just received and he has some good news for you"

Kate grabs the phone from Lanie "WHO IS THIS?"

The voice on the other end is familiar. "Mrs. Castle? Call me Mr. Smith and you and I need to talk"

"Mr. Smith or whoever you really are. I want to know what is going on? My husband is missing. You are calling me right after my wedding dress shows up here. I want some answers"

"Mrs. Castle. I believe I have the answers you need. But I cannot give them to you over the telephone. Please meet me at The Old Haunt in 30 minutes. I will buy you a burger and answer everything you need to know."

Kate drops the phone, asks Lanie to stay at the apartment and she will be back soon but before Lanie can ask anything or say anything Beckett rushes out the door

It is starting to rain so Kate grabs the first cab she can hail.

Kate enters the door of The Old Haunt and looks around for a person she has never met before. She walks past the bar where the manager sees her "Kate are you looking for Rick? He's not here"

"No Jeff, I am meeting a business associate"

At that moment she hears a voice that she recognizes "Mrs. Castle please follow me"

Kate turns and sees an older distinguished man is his early 60's. Tall, slim, white hair. He leads Kate to the rear booth that she knows so well. This is the secluded booth where she and Castle would meet when they were dating in secret. It was hidden from the front door. Any nosey photographers would not see her and Rick making out like teenagers

Kate sits down across from Smith "OK! What is going on? Do you have my husband?"

"Mrs. Castle. First things first. Mr. Castle is fine. He suffered a mild concussion from the bump on the head. But something else took place a long ago that caused the coma."

"What are you talking about? What something a long time ago?"

Smith never looks away. He is always in total eye contact with Kate.

"Rick has a past. A past that you are not aware of. In fact, he is not aware of"

"What do you mean a past? What past?"

"You and he were involved in a CIA case several years ago. An agent named Sofia Turner brought you two into the lion's den so to speak. In fact the lion tried to kill you and eat you two"

"I remember very well. I did not like her at all"

"Yes. She turned out to be quite bad in the end. Well, when Mr. Castle went in to shadow her, the company choose to use him as a covert agent. He actually went thru an abbreviated training program at Langley. He received weapons training, hand to hand combat and some other more classified items. After the shadowing was done, he was debriefed and released back into society"

"That explains his marksmanship with a hand gun"

"Along with other training"

Beckett is looking off in the distance "Are you telling me that Rick has been lying to me all these years?"

"No! Please understand something. The debrief we are discussing took place at the same hotel where you rescued Andrea and Angie"

"Rick had been there before?"

"Yes, but he has neither memory of the event nor any memory of his work with the agency. Please don't blame him for keeping anything from you. His memories were erased"

"Does this mean he is permanently damaged and I will never get him back?"

"No, we have brought him back. Well mostly back. He still has some holes when it comes to his most recent memories"

"Where is he now? What can I do?"

"That brings me to the delivery today"

"My wedding dress being delivered?"

"Yes. We need for you to go to him and do something to shock him into remembering. We thought maybe seeing you in the wedding dress might be the jolt he needs to bring him back. Can you do that?"

"Of course I can do that. Where is he?"

"He is home in his loft"

Before Kate jumps up to head out the door Smith again speaks "Good luck Kate"

"Thanks" she says as she is running toward the front entrance

When she exits the door and walks back up to street level she walks into a driving rain. Looking up and down the street she can see no available taxi so she begins walking-running toward the loft.

By the time she arrives at Castle's building she is totally drenched. She doesn't even wait for the elevator. She bolts up the stairway taking two to three steps at a time. When she gets to the door, she realizes she did not bring her key to the loft and the door is locked.

Quickly she knocks and waits

Inside the loft, Richard Castle is sitting at his desk trying to get his memories in order. They kept telling him that he and Kate were together, but his last memory was of angrily walking out of her apartment knowing that they were finished as partners and the love he has for her would go unfulfilled.

Then he hears the knock on his door. He slowly gets up and opens the door. The vision in front of him is all his brain needs to snap back to where it belongs

Two hands reaching out to his face is all he needed to bring him back

* * *

**I do have a couple of more chapters to post. They are fun. I promise**


	27. Chapter 27

**Just a little closure**

* * *

The conference room is quiet until Rita Alvarez enters and starts preparing for a meeting.

She sets out the coffee carafe and water pitchers. She sets cups and glasses on the counter top along with the necessary condiments. She then proceeds to place tablets with pens in front of each chair.

Looking around the room, she is satisfied that everything is in order before exiting to wait for the attendees to arrive

First to arrive are Andrea Richardson along with her sister Angie. They are followed by Michael Smith just a minute later .Finally they are joined by Carver Burke and Alexander Richardson. Each person selects a location to sit and wait for the meeting to begin.

Bobby Markham arrives last and closes the door behind him. He is carrying a document under his arm

He takes a glass from the counter and fills it to the top with water and then proceeds to the head of the table. He places down a large very thick file folder on the table

"Welcome everyone. This is an auspicious occasion. We have finally wrapped up a long and tiring operation. What began as just an operation to remove a corrupt member of congress finished with not just that event being cleared but a terrorist group removed and most importantly a couple together

There is visual agreement from those around the table along with a few verbal comments of "yes"

"Before we close the files here I want to make sure that we all agree that there is no further action needed on our parts. Let me start with Mr. Richardson."

Turning to his associate"Alexander, do you have any open issues or comments on this operation?"

"No issues at all. Everything went even better than we had planned. Richard's desire to work with Sofia just opened that door for us to use him later"

Smith adds to the statement "Then finding out Ms. Beckett was a huge fan of Castle's writing, just helped us build the legend. It was perfect."

Richardson continues "Then when we arranged for Katherine to meet Richard, we felt like they might become friends since she already was such a fan of his books, but then to have him become smitten by her! Well that was just icing on the cake. That worked out better than anyone hoped it would"

Smith again "And just like the perfect storm, Castle wanted to get into Johanna's case in his attempt to help Kate. That of course brought out the evil with Bracken"

Richardson responds "What none of us saw coming was the romance. Castle falling head over heels in love with Beckett and Rick's fear of losing her. Add to that her fear of him wanting her to be just one more woman in the long train wreck of his life. But at the same time she knew he was the one for her and then afraid of loving someone then losing him"

Markham is now looking to Doctor Burke "Cariver, you were instrumental in steering a lot of these issues in the right direction, weren't you?"

"Thank you, Bob. But I think all I had to do was push her ever so gently in the direction to get her where she honestly wanted to be anyway. She truly did fall in love with him though and it is obvious he did as well. I can say it was fun to watch these two dancing around true and honest feelings the way they did. I do think in the end we have a great resolution and closure for this file"

"All right, everyone is in agreement that the book on this operation is complete after what?" looking at the worn yellowed folder in front of him "over 13 years. So we can finally close the file with a resounding job well done to everyone"

He passes the file around the table for the signature of each member present. After the document is returned to him he stands up and comments

"So, is everyone planning to be at the wedding tomorrow?"

There is a unanimous and resounding "YES!"

* * *

**For those who were with me when I started this story, the original wedding Chapters 1 and 2 were removed.  
I had planned then to be a flashback, but it did not look good so now they will appear at the end of the story**

**There will be some fun and fluff to finish**


	28. Chapter 28

**This was originally chapter 1, but the flashback did not feel right, so I moved this to the end**

* * *

THE WEDDING SONG

Today is a wedding day. Not just any wedding day. His wedding day.

He has looked forward to this day for many years. Four years to be more exact. The day he met his future wife, he knew immediately that this woman was it for him. He knew there would be no other. She was the one he wanted to be his wife. She is his forever.

The day they met, she grabbed his heart, ripped it out of his chest and did not even flinch. She has had power over him like a spell cast by a gypsy. Maybe that's what it was. She was not just enchanted but enchanting as well. She waved a magic wand and he was under her control. He just didn't see it happen. How could he see it? He was blind in his love for her.

Or maybe she was just a spirit. An apparition. A figment of his vivid writer imagination. Is she only a character in one of his books? Not real! She exists only in his mind. She only appears to him in his dreams or when he is writing? Was she just ink on paper? That was why she could do things to him. Make him forget all the other women in the world.

No, she is more. Much more. She is everything he ever hoped he would find in a woman. More than just in his dreams. She is a real living breathing woman. Not just his imagined character he created. She is flesh and blood, skin and skeleton. It's just when it is written that way it sounds so much like its just chemistry. Something a university professor could explain by referencing the periodic table of elements. Nowhere on that table is there an element called LOVE.

None of this explains why his heart beats faster whenever she is around.

* * *

Today is a wedding day. Not just any wedding day. Her wedding day.

For all of her adult life she wondered if this day would ever come. She dated many men during her life. Good men, bad men and everything in between. Men whose job it was to protect the less fortunate. Men whose job it was to save others. Most men just wanted her body but not her mind, or her heart. Men who were more interested in what she could do for them and never being sensitive to what they could do to meet her needs.

Sometimes she thought that she would spend her entire life as a single woman driven to be the best at her chosen profession. Never having more in her personal life than that. Always focused on her obsessions in solving heinous murders.

Then he appears. A man who seems nothing more than a playboy and womanizer. The kind of man definitely she does not want. The kind of man she does not need. She doesn't want to be another conquest. Just another "Number" in a long list of numbers

But his constant probing into her personal life. His constant presence at her work. Him following her day after day. His childlike stance, so different from the everyday reality of the crimes he helped investigate. But that childlike presence bringing some fun to an otherwise difficult job

She lets him know early on that under no circumstances will she give into his charms. She puts a wall up around her heart.

But it happens. It does not happen quickly. It happens slowly. A little at a time he breaks down her defenses. He doesn't seem to be trying to make her another in the long line of women. He actually seems to care about her. All of her. He is happy when she is happy. He is sad for her when she is sad. He hurts with her when she is hurting. He is sensitive to what are her desires. He is sensitive to her needs. He wants her dreams to become reality and will help it to happen. He is willing to put himself in harms way for her.

One day she comes to realize that his presence is helpful with her work. He is actually beneficial at her job. He becomes a target to her teasing. She lets him delve slightly into her secrets. She uses her feminine charms against him. She leaves him choking on some comment she has made. He is so easy to tease. He falls for her charms which make her fall for his

Then she finds it easier and easier to talk to him about little unimportant things, and then they talk about more important things. She comes to realize that she is now telling him some of her deepest secrets. Not deliberately. Just talking to him has become so easy.

Then one day it happens. Without conscience intent, he strikes a blow to her defenses. She did not see it coming but is something she had begun to hope would happen if everything came into focus. .Her wall collapses. It crumbles into a pile of rubble on the ground. She could not be happier. He has become everything to her. He is her friend, her companion, her confidant, her partner, her Lover.

Now she stands in a beautiful very expensive custom gown made just for her. She is waiting in the entry way of the mansion belonging to him in this ocean side community. They are surrounded by all their mutual friends and family. All are here to celebrate the love that these two have already sworn to each other.

Her father steps up to his daughter and with his own eyes glazed over

"Katie. Are you ready?"

"Yes dad. I am more than ready"

She steps out into the daylight. All those in attendance stand and turn. She sees smiles on everyone's face. She is the center of attention as it should be on your wedding day. At the alter stands her new husband and the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. His smile dwarfs all the others in the audience.

When they arrive to where the others are waiting, their friend and judge conducting the ceremony asks the question "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

Her father answers proudly "Her mother and I" as he places her hand into the hand of the man waiting for his bride

Step steps up beside her groom and they both turn to face the audience for their vows.

"The judge speaks toward the audience "If anyone knows a reason that this man and this woman should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace"

Sorry BUT! Sometimes the best laid plans go astray

The local assistant police chief has decided this is the time that he needs to speak

"RICHARD CASTLE, KATHERINE BECKETT, you are both under arrest"


	29. Chapter 29

NOT FUNNY GUYS

* * *

"Under Arrest for what?" Castle is looking at the police officer walking toward them

"Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett, there is an outstanding alias warrant out for you two"

Captain Cavender is placing handcuffs on the couple. He puts a single pair on them, cuffing each of their left hands together

Castle is looking at police captain Bruce Cavender "What are the charges?" Kate asks

"It seems that several months ago you and Mr. Castle were charged with obstruction of justice in a murder case. According to the court records, you were released on your own recognizance but you two never appeared for your hearing and a bench warrant was issued for your arrest."

"Captain, we assisted Chief Brady on this case. He dropped any charges that were filed in exchange for our help"

"I am sorry, but evidently he did not process the paperwork to drop the charges since there is an outstanding warrant out for both of you"

"But captain, as you can see we are getting married. Can't you wait at least until the ceremony is complete?"

"No I'm afraid not"

"Where is Chief Brady? He will clear this up"

"He is on a hunting trip up in Canada and is out of touch for a week. His cell service comes and goes depending on where he is. Listen you two, I have a valid warrant and I am obligated to take you to jail"

Castle looks over to Kate then at their cuffed hands then back up to Kate. There is pain in his eyes.

What neither of these two have seen is that Esposito, Ryan, Gates and several other officers are trying to hold in their laughter. Judge Markaway is standing at the alter trying his best to not laugh. He is trying to decide if he wants to just watch these two squirm or if he wants to add to the issue.

Captain Cavender's cell phone rings and he answers "Yes? OH hello Chief. I am doing fine. No sir, no problems here. Just the usual stuff happening. Mostly getting complaints about neighbor's dogs pooping in someone else's garden. And, a couple of tourists drunk down on the beach. Not a problem sir. You just have fun on your hunting trip. OH! You plan to stay longer? Yes sir, I can handle everything here for another week. Great! Oh! And by the way I arrested two people that have an outstanding warrant. A Mr. Richard Castle and Ms Katherine Beckett"

The captain gets a puzzled look on his face. "Sir? What do you mean they are not supposed to have any warrants? But sir, the warrant was on your desk under your special set of handcuffs. Oh it was there to remind you to get the warrant dismissed when you got back? They helped you on a big case? I see. OK Chief, I will un-cuff them and lat them go. I used those special cuffs that were on your desk so I just need the keys to…. Sir? What...?"

Cavender lowers his voice "There is only one key to the cuffs? What do you mean the key is in your pocket? Yes sir. Uh! I need to go right now sir. Let me call you back"

Cavender hangs up his phone

Castle is listening to this conversation "What did Brady say?"

"Mr. Castle I am sorry about the misunderstanding. It seems that you were correct that there is not a warrant out for you or Ms. Beckett."

"So unlock these hand cuffs and Kate and I can get on with the ceremony"

"Well, UH! Mr. Castle I have a little problem. These are not regulation police cuffs. The chief bought them a few years back at an antique auction. They require a very special key"

"Well, go get the key and unlock these" Castle and Beckett both hold up their left hands that are currently tied together like the animal smugglers had done to them

"I am so, so, sorry you two. It seems that the only copy of the key is with the chief and he won't be back for a week. OH wait, he just told me he is extending his trip"

Kate looks at the officer "Are you kidding me. You don't have the key? What are we supposed to do?"

Judge Markaway speaks up "I think the best thing to do is to continue with the service and deal with the situation after we have finished."

Castle looks to Kate who has a very small smile "All right let's get started"

The couple return to their place on the alter, and then they hear a chuckle from someone in the audience. The couple turns back around to the crowd and as they start looking to their friends, they see several trying to suppress their laughter. Castle has a sneaking suspicion that their friends know more about this situation than they are letting on.

"All right guys! What is so funny?"

By now the entire 12th homicide squad has broken out in a laughing fit

Lanie comments first "I had nothing to do with this. They wanted me in but I couldn't do it to you two"

Kate looks at her co workers "Guys. What did you do?"

Judge Markaway answers for the rest of the witnesses "I was contacted by your fellow detectives and was told that they wanted to pull a little joke on you two. Now what I was told was that Katherine", the judge looks at Beckett "you were known to always have one foot out the door and Rick, I know myself you have been married before. So this group of your friends" as he points to the audience "wanted to make sure you didn't run, Kate, And Rick this way you can never be apart from her."

By now the group is applauding for the stunt. This is when Castle and Beckett see Chief Brady walk up behind the judge, smiling holding up the key to the hand cuffs.

"Castle looks out into the group. "You are all in so much trouble"

Esposito answers for the entire 12th "Sorry, Bro. You deserved it for taking our girl away like you did and not telling the rest of us what you were up to."

Chief Brady unlocks the cuffs.

Kate looks over at the chief but says loud enough so everyone can hear. "Chief Brady. Can I borrow the cuffs?" Then she looks into Castle's eyes "I might need them for the honeymoon"

This brings a quick gulp from Castle.

She is still a tease

As Always

* * *

**I have one final chapter to post to close this arc of stories It will be pure fluff**

**My readers are the best. Thanks to everyone who commented both likes and dislikes**

**I hope I can come up with something new to do this again**


	30. Chapter 30

ODE TO JOY

The laughter subsides from Kate's comment on the handcuffs. Rick smiles at his lovely bride as he takes the cuffs away from Chief Brady and places them into his own pocket

"I think I need to hang on to these for the time being to protect myself"

Castle looks into the eyes of the beautiful woman standing beside him. He takes a deep breath then takes Kate's hand and turns back to Judge Markaway.

"We better get this over with before some dead body drops out of the sky at our feet"

Judge Markaway speaks to the assembled group

"We are gathered here today to join this man, Richard Edgar Castle, and this woman, Katherine Houghton Beckett, in Holy Matrimony.

"These two recently conducted a civil ceremony and they have now chosen this day to recite before this assembled audience vows that each one has written especially for this auspicious occasion."

Rick and Kate are now facing each other with their fingers firmly linked together

"Richard, Is there something that you wish to say to Katherine?"

Castle is no stranger to public speaking. He has done readings numerous times in front of large crowds but today Rick has tears in his eyes and he is having a difficult time speaking without choking up

.

"Katherine Beckett. I am standing here before you almost lost for words. Before you came along my life was empty except for my daughter and mother. I had no worthwhile direction to go. I had lost my focus then you appeared out of nowhere."

"From that first moment I laid eyes upon you, you took my breath away. Not just because of you beauty. Not just because you were flashing a police badge and asking me to come to the station. I think I told you that you could hand cuff me if you wanted to"

This brings chuckles from the assembled group

"I just knew somehow you were different. I knew I had to find out more about you. My problem then was that I letting Richard Castle get in the way. He didn't want to let me be the loving caring man that you deserved. Until you came along, I had no reason to change"

"But you did come along and from that very first moment with you I knew that I wanted you in my life. Starting that day that I met you, I wanted this day to come. You made me realize I needed you. I needed to become someone better than I was. You gave me that reason. You gave my life meaning, a new direction, a new purpose. You gave me the path for it to take. You made that happen.

You are the woman I have always dreamed about. I knew. I simply knew I wanted you to be my forever. You are the only woman who has ever truly taken my heart away

Kate, I think I fell in love with you that first day and it has simply grown stronger every second since then. I love you. Kate. You are extraordinary.

Katherine Beckett you are my ALWAYS"

"Katherine, Is there something you wish to say to Richard?"

"Before I met you my life was empty. My life was limited to work, and an empty apartment and an empty love life. I had one escape. A series of mystery novels written by a man named Castle. I will admit that reading the books made me a fan of not just the stories but the writer as well. I was a giant fan, but don't tell him I said that. Then I met you. After getting to know you I found out the Richard Castle on the back of the dust cover Is not the Richard Castle standing here in front of me. This Richard Castle is a loving father, a loving son. And a loving man. A man I have grown to love. You brought me out of my shell. Showed me a different side of life. You made me believe in magic and you showed me that Santa Claus is real"

.

"Having to arrest you and handcuff you, more than once was fun, and now that I have borrowed those cuffs from Chief Brady, the arrests may continue"

This brings more laughs from the crowd

"You protect me. I feel safe when I am with you. You support me. You are there when I need you next to me. But most importantly you make me feel warm inside"

She gives him that million watt smile

"You may be an arrogant, egotistical, self centered, jackass but I still love you

"You told me once that I deserve to be happy. I am here to say that I am happy. I have never been so happy."

"You Richard Castle are my ALWAYS"

The two have now moved into their normal eye sex that they have been doing for many years

Judge Markaway speaks

"By the power vested in my by the City and State of New York, I pronounce you man and wife."

"You may now kiss your bride"

Richard Castle places his arms firmly around the amazing Katherine Beckett-Castle and connects his lips to hers.

.

Cheers and applause fill the lawn.

After the crowd quiets down, judge Markowitx announces

"Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce for the very first time Mr. and Mrs. Richard Castle

The string quartet begins playing the recessional and the happy couple step way from the alter

.

THEN

Everyone hears a thud

Rick and Kate look back over in the direction of the alter where they see a dead body has just dropped out of a clear blue sky

Kate reaches into Castle's pocket and takes out the handcuffs, grabs Rick's hand, and says

"OH! NO kitten! This time we are leaving this one for the locals to figure out"

As she pulls her husband toward the waiting limousine

.

END

* * *

T**his is the end of my story and the series. WOW. You people are great **  
**I never thought anyone would read my dribble. But a lot you did and a lot of you**  
**reviewed my work.**  
**Many Thanks.**

**Until Next Time**


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